ILLIAM  GOODELL 


BORN    IN    COVENTRY,  N.  Y. 

October  23 1 //,  1792. 


DIED    IN    JANESVILLE,   WIS. 

February  ijth,  i8f8. 


ve  fought  a  good  fight,  I  have   finished   my  course,  I   have  kept  the  faith  :  hence- 
forth there  is  laid  up  for  me  a  crown  of  righteousness,  which   the   Lord,  the  righteous  judge, 
. •'.-  me  at  that  day :  and  not  to  me  only,  but  unto  all  them  also  that  love  his  appearing." 


CHICAGO: 


UCSB   LIBRARY 


ea 

7 


;         aneJvte, 


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IN  MEMORIAM, 


WILLIAM  GOODELL 

BORN    IN    COVENTRY,  N.  Y. 

October  l^iti,  2792. 

DIED    IN    JANESVILLE.    WIS., 

February  i^t/t,  1878. 


"  I  have  fought  a  good  fight,  I  have  finished  my  course.  I  have  kept  the  faith  :  hence- 
forth there  is  laid  up  for  me  a  crown  of  righteousness,  which  the  Lord,  the  righteous  judge, 
shall  give  me  at  that  day :  and  not  to  me  only,  but  unto  all  them  also  that  love  his  appearing.' 


CHICAGO: 

GlILBERT   &    WlNtHELL,    PRINTERS,    164   CLARK    ST. 
1879. 


WILLIAM  GOODELL 


William  Goodell,  for  half  a  century  a  zealous  laborer  in  the 
anti-slavery,  temperance,  and  kindred  reforms,  was  the  son  of 
Frederic  and  Rhoda  (Guernsey)  Goodell,  and  was  born  in  Cov- 
entry, Chenango  County,  N.  Y.,  Oct.  25,  1792.  The  place  of 
his  birth  is  situated  in  what  is  now  a  part  of  Broome  County, 
and  was  at  the  time  a  pioneer  settlement  in  the  then  "  far  west." 
He  is  supposed  to  have  been  the  first  white  child  born  in  that 
vicinity.  He  was  a  lineal  descendant  of  Robert  Goodell,  one  of 
the  early  settlers  of  Danvers,  then  Salem,  Mass.,  where  some  of 
his  descendants  still  live.  Robert  came  from  Ipswich,  England, 
in  1634,  with  a  wife  and  three  children. 

Among  the  heir-looms  of  some  of  Robert  Goodell's  de- 
scendants is  found  a  coat  of  arms,  granted  to  "  Goodell,  Earl 
Stonham,  County  Suffolk,  March  i,  1612,"  which  gives  a  slight 
indication  of  the  rank  of  his  remoter  ancestors,  though  none  of 
their  character.  This  latter,  however,  is  indicated  by  the  char- 
acter of  Robert's  descendants  in  this  country,  who  have  been 
noted  for  sobriety  and  integrity.  In  their  ranks  have  been 
clergymen  who  preached  temperance,  and  laymen  who  practiced 
it,  at  a  time  when  drinking  customs  were  all  but  universal  in 
even  the  most  intellectual  and  religious  circles.  We  have  record 
of  one  John  Goodell  of  Worcester,  a  descendant  of  Robert,  but 
belonging  to  another  branch  of  the  family  from  that  of  the  sub- 
ject of  this  sketch,  who  died  in  1827,  aged  82  years,  leaving  a 
bequest  of  $1,000  to  a  temperance  society  founded  in  part  by 
himself. 

The  name  was  formerly  spelled  variously;  as  Goodell, 
Goodall,  Goodale,  Godall,  and  even  Goodie,  according  to  the 
the  taste  or  judgment  of  the  writer.  Robert  spelled  his  name 
Goodell,  as  do  most  of  his  descendants.  It  is  worthy  of  remark 
that  a  family  noted  for  exceptional  sobriety  and  abstinence  from 
intoxicating  liquors,  was  also  noted  for  longevity,  many  of  its 
members  living  till  past  their  Soth  year. 

Of  other  of  Robert  Goodell's  descendants  may  be  mentioned 
the  late  Rev.  Wm.  Goodell,  D.  D.,  missionary  to  Constantinople 
and  translator  of  the  Scriptures;  Capt.  Silas  Goodell  of  the 


Revolutionary  War,  referred  to  in  the  history  of  Norwich, 
Conn.;  the  late  Judge  Richard  Goodell.  Jr.,  of  Jefferson,  N.  Y., 
speaker  of  the  N.  V.  Assembly,  afterwards  keeper  of  Auburn 
State  Prison,  a  pioneer  of  prison  reform,  and  much  beloved  for 
his  kindness  to  the  prisoners  under  his  charge;  and  A.  C. 
Goodell,  Esq.,  clerk  of  the  court  at  Salem,  Mass.,  distinguished 
as  an  antiquarian  scholar  and  a  geneologist,  particularly  of  tht- 
Goodell  and  Putnam  families. 

Of  Daniel  Goodell,  a  member  of  this  family,  who  flourished 
more  than  a  century  ago,  and  who  was  a  member  of  the  Colonial 
Legislature  of  Mass.,  where  his  stern  morality  and  inflexibility 
of  purpose  marked  him  as  one  of  the  "Last  of  the  Puritans," 
the  following  anecdote  is  told : 

"On  an  annual  election  day,  after  the  customary  election 
sermon  had  been  preached,  and  the  assembled  representatives 
and  'standing  order'  clergy  of  the  commonwealth,  with  the 
governor  elect,  had  been  dining  together,  they  were  seated  in 
social  converse,  smoking  their  long  pipes.  Daniel  Goodell,  alone 
in  his  singularity,  had  no  pipe,  a  silent  rebuke  amid  the  clouds  of 
degeneracy  around  him.  A  servant,  supposing  he  had  been 
omitted  in  the  distribution,  hastened  before  him  with  a  waiter 
laden  with  pipe  and  tobacco.  Daniel  shook  his  head,  silently 
but  sternly.  '  Mr.  Goodell,  don't  you  smoke,  sir?'  enquired  a 
venerable  D.  D.  who  was  puffing  by  his  side.  'No,  sir!"  said 
Daniel,  with  an  emphasis  and  solemnity  that  riveted  all  eyes  upon 
him.  'No,  sir!  I  have  ways  enough  of  serving  the  devil  with- 
out smoking  tobacco!'  The  shock  was  electric.  No  one 
answered ;  no  one  smiled.  Clerical  faces  looked  blank — perhaps 
blushed — for  tobacco  smoking  had  always  been  held  a  heresy 
and  a  scandal  in  the  better  days  of  the  commonwealth.  Puffing 
became  laborious,  and,  after  a  few  faint  whiffs,  the  ashes  were 
knocked  out  and  the  pipes  laid  aside." 

Thomas  Goodell,  a  grandson  of  Robert  of  Salem,  was 
among  the  earliest  settlers  of  Pomfret,  Conn.  He  married 
Sarah  Horrell,  a  young  lady  of  Irish  origin,  noted  for  her  self- 
reliance,  independence,  energy  and  perseverance.  Leaving  his 
wife  behind  him,  in  Roxbury,  Mass.,  until  he  could  build  a  log 
house  in  Pomfret  and  return  for  her,  she  became  impatient  of 
the  delay  and  set  out  on  foot  to  join  him,  walking  seventv  miles 
or  more  through  the  woods,  checkered  here  and  there  with  a 
new  settlement,  till  the  end  of  the  third  day  rewarded  her  effort, 
and  she  found  her  unfinished  home,  and  a  sick  husband  only  too 


glad  to  receive  the  administrations   of  his  energetic  spouse. 

A  son  of  this  Thos.  Goodell,  named  Zechariah,  married  Han- 
nah Cheney.  Among  their  children  was  a  second  Zechariah,  who 
also  married  a  Hannah  Cheney,  his  cousin.  The  second  Zech- 
ariah and  Hannah  were  the  grandparents  of  William  Goodell, 
the  suhject  of  this  memoir.  The  junior  Hannah  was  the 
daughter  of  Henry  Cheney  of  Roxbury,  Mass.  The  Cheney 
family  was  connected  with  the  Bryants,  the  Fessendens,  and  the 
Sumners  of  that  period.  Hannah  spent  her  youthful  days  with 
an  uncle  in  Boston,  where  she  enjoyed  high  intellectual  and 
social  advantages.  She  attended  the  ministry  of  the  Rev. 
Thomas  Prince,  A.  M.,  of  the  old  South  Church.  She  was  a 
convert  of  Whitefield's,  and  had  heard  President  Edwards 
preach.  Samuel  Adams  was  a  friend  and  frequent  guest  of  her 
uncle.  She  was  a  woman  of  exceptional  strength  of  mind  and 
character,  and  improved  her  advantages  to  the  utmost,  so  that 
all  through  her  life,  and  in  her  old  age,  she  was  respected  and 
venerated  by  all  who  knew  her,  for  her  rare  intelligence  and 
sound  judgment.  A  leading  statesman  of  Connecticut,  after 
conversing  with  her,  said  (and  this  was  in  pre-"  woman's  rights1' 
days ! )  "  she  ought  to  have  been  in  Congress."  Even  her  min- 
ister, in  the  days  when  the  clergy  formed  a  sort  of  intellectual 
aristocracy,  deferred  to  her  on  difficult  ecclesiastical  questions, 
and  deep  points  of  metaphysics  and  polemics.  Her  powers  of 
memory  made  her  a  kind  of  living  encyclopedia  of  the  litera- 
ture of  the  times.  English  history  and  literature  were  as  famil- 
iar to  her  as  her  Bible.  In  describing  her,  as  he  remembered 
her,  the  subject  of  this  sketch  said  :  "  Her  acquaintance  with  the 
biographies  of  the  principal  colonists,  and  the  political  and 
ecclesiastical  history  of  the  colonies,  was  more  extensive  and 
minute  than  that  of  any  other  person  I  ever  knew."  She  is 
supposed  to  have  been  married  in  Boston,  and  bits  of  her  wedding 
dress,  a  heavy  white  figured  silk,  preserved  by  her  grand- 
children, serve  to  indicate  the  wealth  and  social  standing  of  her 
family.  But  she  left  all  these  fascinating  surroundings  cheerfully, 
to  become  the  wife  of  a  plain  country  farmer  from  Connecticut, 
and  entered  into  rural  life  with  zest  and  enthusiasm,  combining 
household  cares  with  intellectual  pursuits  in  such  a  manner  as  to 
secure  the  well  being  of  both  the  body  and  soul  of  herself  and 
family.  Her  society  was  always  sought  and  prized  by  the  most 
intelligent  and  literary  portion  of  the  surrounding  community. 

Zechariah  Goodell,  Jr.,  stood  high  in  the  community,  holding 


various  offices  of  public  trust,  and  was  at  one  time  a  lieutenant 
in  the-  Ke\olutiouary  War.  Of  the  nine  children  of  Zechariah, 
Jr.,  and  Hannah  Goodell,  Frederic,  the  eldest,  was  among  the 
lirst  settlers  of  Coventry,  Chenango  County,  N.  Y.  He  had> 
however,  previously  served  in  the  Revolutionary  War,  and  had 
taught  school  several  terms  in  Pomfret,  and  afterward  in  Dutch  ess 
County,  N.  Y.  In  the  latter  place  he  found  and  married  Rhoda 
( iuernsev. 

The  Guernsey  family  was  of  English  (some  say  parti v  of 
French)  origin,  and  came  from  Litchfield,  Conn.,  to  Dutchess 
Co.,  N.  Y.,  some  time  hefore  the  Revolution.  A  distinguishing 
trait  of  the  family  was  a  fondness  for  arguing  upon  political  and 
theological  suhjects,  upon  which  there  was  considerable  differ- 
ence of  opinion  among  them.  John  Guernsey,  the  father  of 
Rhoda,  and  his  brother  Peter,  disagreed  on  the  then  exciting 
topic  of  the  Revolutionary  War.  Peter  was  ripe  for  revolu- 
tion; John  inclined  to  peace.  Many  and  long  protracted  were 
the  discussions  which  took  place  between  these  two  brothers, 
drawing  together  large  audiences  of  all  the  farmers  around  them. 
They  lived  about  seven  miles  apart.  Whenever  either  of  them 
was  seen  on  horseback,  "going  over  the  mountain"  to  his 
brother's,  the  watchword  went  out,  "  Now  for  a  debate  of  the 
Guernseys  on  the  war  question!"  The  hoe  or  the  scythe  was 
dropped  in  the  field;  the  plow  was  stopped  in  the  new  furrow; 
all  hastened  to  the  arena  of  discussion,  where  for  hours,  some- 
times for  a  day  or  two,  the  facts  and  argument,  pro  and  con 
were  presented.  For  some  months  the  voice  of  the  neighbor- 
hood was  divided  between  them,  but  the  prevailing  vote  was  at 
last  on  the  side  of  "old  uncle  Peter."  But  John  Guernsey  was 
never  stigmatized  as  a  tory;  he  advocated  the  rights  of  the  col- 
onies, only  maintaining  that  they  could  be  preserved  without 
bloodshed.  Rhoda  Guernsey  was  one  of  fifteen  children,  all  of 
whom  had  large  families,  numbering  ninety-one  grand-children 
of  John  Guernsey.  Peter  B.,  a  brother  of  Rhoda,  settled  Nor- 
wich, N.  Y. 

Frederic  Goodell  and  Rhoda  Guernsey  were  married  in  the 
fall  of  1788,  and,  'sometime  after,  removed  to  Coventry,  where 
they  lived  a  pioneer  life  of  great  privation  and  hardship,  from 
the  effects  of  which  both  died  at  a  comparatively  early  period. 

Of  their  six  sons,  William,  the  third,  the  subject  of  this 
sketch,  was  born  Oct.  25,  1792,  in  a  log  house  in  the  woods. 
Being  in  delicate  health  in  his  early  childhood,  he  was  kept  much 


within  doors,  with  his  motherland  her  scanty  library,  consisting 
of  the  Bible,  Watts'  Psalms  and  Hymns,  Hart's  Hymns,  the 
Methodist  Pocket  Hymn  Book,  Bunyan's  Pilgrim's  Progress, 
the  writings  of  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Rowe,  Wesley's  Sermons, 
Fletcher's  Appeal,  and  a  volume  or  two  of  the  Spectator  and 
Guardian,  as  his  early  companions.  Hjs  feebleness  and  long 
confinement,  during  these  forming  yeai's  of  his  life,  fostered  his 
taste  for  thought  and  study,  and  even  for  composition,  which  he 
commenced  before  he  was  eight  years  old;  his  first  efforts  being, 
as  was  natural  under  the  circumstances,  the  scribbling  of  religious 
verses  on  bits  of  bark.  Religious  impressions  were  then  made, 
and  aspirations  kindled  which  moulded  his  character  for  life. 
His  parents  were  both  devoted  Christians,  and  he  dated  his  own 
conversion  from  his  seventh  year.  Church  privileges  were  scanty 
and  highly  prized  in  that  new  settlement;  families  trudged  afoot, 
or  were  drawn  on  ox-sleds,  through  the  woods  for  miles,  to  re- 
ligious meetings  held  in  log  school  houses  or  dwellings.  Metho- 
dist circuits  were  early  established  in  the  neighborhood;  a  "class" 
was  formed,  and  joined  by  Frederic  Goodell,  who  was  educated 
a  Presbyterian,  and  by  his  wife,  who  had  been  a  Baptist.  This 
fact  indicates  little  sectarian  prejudice  on  their  part.  The  name 
of  William  was  soon  added.  This  was  the  beginning  of  a  "  So- 
ciety "  which  is  still  in  existence,  with  a  church  near  the  Goodell 
homestead,  where  still  resides  Rev.  Ezekiel  Goodell,  a  local 
preacher,  the  only  surviving  son  of  Frederic  and  Rhoda  Goodell. 
Here,  in  the  dense  forests,  amid  the  howling  of  wolves  (where 
now  is  heard  the  car- whistle)  were  laid,  in  a  degree,  the  moral 
foundations  of  whatever  has  been  of  value  in  the  life  and  labors 
of  William  Goodell. 

Of  his  parents,  as  they  impressed  him  in  his  childhood,  he 
wrote  years  afterward,,  thus : 

"  I  seem  to  see  my  mother  as  she  then  was — somewhat  tall 
and  slender,  with  fair  complexion,  light  blue  eyes,  but  glossy 
black  hair;  her  voice  was  singularly  soft  and  musical,  her  motions 
easy  and  graceful,  her  manners  gentle,  her  bearing  sedate,  calm, 
thoughtful ;  her  smile  sweet.  She  was  in  every  way  a  superior 
woman.  During  my  feeble  childhood  I  experienced,  from  her, 
unusual  attention  and  tenderness,  and  enjoyed  the  advantage  of 
that  instruction  with  which  her  own  mind  was  richly  stored,  and 
which  she  had  a  peculiar  faculty  of  imparting  with  ease.  I  never 
knew  any  other  person  with  such  an  exquisite  sensibilitv,  with 
such  a  perfect  equanimity.  Nature  had  given  her  the  most  lively 


8 

feelings,  hut  Christian  meekness  had  endued  her  with  a  patient 
fortitude1  more  noble  and  unconquerable  than  stoical  firmness. 
My  father  too  had  hi  IK-  eyes  and  brown  hair;  his  air  somewhat 
stern,  hut  not  rough.  His  countenance  was  cheerful  and  pleasant, 

though: IBS  brows  were  knit  with  habitual  meditation,  delibera- 
tion, and  care.  Sometimes  pla\  fill  with  his  children,  he  main- 
tained his  parental  authority.  Manlv  in  his  deportment,  he  was 
never  frivolous,  never  acted  a  boyish  part  among  men.  To  my 
father  and  mother,  human  life  and  its  responsibilities  were  no 
pastime  amusements,  no  vain  parade  of  appearances,  no  idle 
Chains.  They  had  to  do  with  sober  realties  in  the  life  thev  were 
then  living,  and  in  the  life  to  which  thev  were  looking  forward. 
Sincerity,  earnestness,  activity,  forecast,  conscientiousness,  were 
the  outstanding  and  deep  seated  traits  of  their  characters." 

Of  his  early  recollections  he  writes: 

"  It  has  been  a  matter  of  inquiry  with  some,  at  how  earlv 
an  age  children  may  so  take  notice  of  objects  and  incidents  as  to 
remember  them  distinctly  in  after  years.  Perhaps  I  can  not  do 
much  toward  determining  that  question,  but  I  can  certainlv  re- 
member some  things  that  must  have  taken  place  before  I  was 
much  accustomed  to  walking,  perhaps  before  I  had  commenced. 
I  very  well  remember  having  been  wrapped  up  in  a  blanket  and 
carried  out,  in  the  evening,  b\  mv  father,  in  company  with  my 
mother,  to  our  neighbor  Newton's.  Peeping  out  of  the  blanket, 
I  saw  the  nearly  round  moon  in  the  east,  one  edge  of  it  slowly 
coming  out  from  behind  a  dark  cloud.  I  knew  not  what  it  was, 
or  could  be,  and  a  sensation  of  delight,  awe,  and  \\onder,  crept 
over  me,  which  I  have  never  forgotten.  The  sight  of  a  partly 
concealed  moon  never  fails  to  renew,  vividly,  the  same  feeling, 
and  to  carrv  my  mind  back  to  my  first  view  of  it. 

"Education  begins  with  the  beginning  of  conscious  existence, 
and  the  influences  first  exerted  upon  us,  though  we  may  forget 
them,  have  an  important  bearing  upon  our  development  and  our 
destiny.  On  thing  to  which  I  am  much  indebted  I  do  not  forget, 
and  that  is,  the  quiet  way  in  which  my  mother  imprinted  upon 
my  mind  and  memory,  I  know  not  how  mam  beautiful  verses 
and  hymns,  chiefly  Watts'  Divine  Songs  for  Children.  When- 
ever anything  troubled  me,  she  would  call  me  to  her,  and  begin 
to  repeat  to  me  a  hymn,  line  by  line,  or  a  half  a  line  at  a  time, 
which  I  was  expected  to  lisp  after  her.  This  she  would  do  as 
if  conferring  some  privilege  upon  me,  or  as  if  comforting  or  con- 
soling me,  under  my  little  troubles,  and  so  I  can  remember  having 


regarded  it.  Whatever  the  matter  was,  a  line  or  two  of  a  hymn 
would  turn  my  attention  from  it,  and  a  new  train  of  ideas,  how- 
ever imperfect  or  indistinct,  had  taken  the  place  of  my  former 
ones.  'Prettv  verses'  were  the  sugar  plums  with  which  mv 
mother  was  wont  to  quiet  me.  At  other  times  I  would  ask  her 
to  'tell  me  some  verses;'  and  I  would  follow  her  wherever  she 
went,  in  her  work,  in  doors  or  out  about  the  house,  to  the  out- 
door oven,  to  the  spring,  or  to  the  garden  spot,  repeating  verses 
after  her.  In  this  way  I  learned  many  hymns,  probably  before 
I  knew  my  letters;  and  though  I  could  have  said  them  without  a 
prompter,  I  took  it  for  granted  that  my  mother  must  first  say 
them  to  me,  and  that  I  must  say  them  after  her.  I  remember 
how  delighted  I  was  some  years  afterwards,  when  my  father 
brought  home  the  little  book  that  contained  most  of  them,  with 
some  others,  which  I  was  then  able  to  read.  The  relish  for  re- 
ligious poetry,  thus  earlv  awakened,  has  remained  with  me  ever 
since.  I  have  lived  the  better  portion  of  my  life  in  the  atmos- 
phere of  sweet  psalms  and  hymns." 

The  youthful  William  early  attracted  attention  for  his  faculty 
for  "making  verses,"  and  his  singing;  his  childish  voice  being  un- 
usually sweet  and  clear.  These  gifts  earned  for  him  the  soubri- 
quet of  "nightingale,"  and  were  encouraged  by  his  parents  and 
relatives,  who  united  to  the  practical  caste  of  character  which 
their  lives  of  toil  had  imparted,  a  taste  for  the  refinements  of 
intellectual  and  moral  culture. 

In  his  eleventh  year  came  his  first  great  sorrow,  the  loss  of 
his  mother,  who  died  of  a  slow  nervous  fever,  brought  on  by 
toil  and  privations.  A  comfortable  frame  house  had  succeeded 
the  log  hut  of  her  earlier  wedded  life,  but  she  only  entered  it  to 
die,  at  the  early  age  of  thirty-seven,  leaving  five  sons  surviving 
her.  The  children  never  forgot  their  mother  and  her  teachings. 
When  long  past  his  three  score  and  ten  years,  William  Goodell 
would  mention  the  anniversary  of  his  mother's  death  and  say  : 
"A  deep  depression  always  comes  over  me  at  this  time  of  the 
year."  After  her  death  his  grief  became  almost  morbid.  Writ- 
ing, in  1820,  to  the  friend  who  afterward  became  his  wife,  he 
said:  "You  know  there  is  a  veil  of  melancholy  in  my  composi- 
tion; whether  constitutional,  or  contracted  by  early  sorrows, 
formed  into  a  habit,  I  cannot  say;  one  thing  is  certain;  the  death 
of  my  mother,  when  I  was  about  eleven  years  old,  made  an  im- 
pression on  me  that  time  has  not  yet  effaced.  The  autumn  after 
her  decease  I  used  to  steal  away  daily,  wet  or  dry,  and  walk 


10 

through  the  woods  a  mile  and  a  half",  to  her  grave;  it  was  on  a 
little  spot  of  cleared  ground, surrounded  entirely  hy  a  thick  wood; 
and  there  I  used  to  sit  muring,  hours  and  hours,  to  the  neglect  of" 
mv  meals, holding  a  kind  of"  imaginar\  converse  with  the  departed 
spirit,  till  I  almost  fancied  I  could  hear  her  speak.  The-  winds 
of  Novemher  that  swept  the  forest,  furnished  me  with  a  soft 
conch  of  fallen  leaves,  upon  which  I  would  recline  and  wateh 
the  hroken  clouds  that  passed  suddenlv  over  the  sun,  and  check- 
ered the  landscape  with  gleams  of  light  and  spots  of  shade, 
following  each  other  in  quick  succession,  like  the  comforts  and 
the  griefs  of  this  changeful  life.  *  *  *  Kvcn  now  there  art- 
times  when  the  form  and  countenance,  the  motion,  and  even  the 
very  dress  of  my  mother,  are  so  perfectly  impressed  on  mv 
imagination,  by  the  force  of  memory,  that  it  seems  as  though 
she  stood  before  me;  and  when  anything  interrupts  my  reverie? 
I  start,  as  though  a  spectre  had  vanished." 

In  1804,  William  was  sent  to  his  uncle,  John  Guernsey,  in 
Amenia,  Dutchess  County.  He  was  at  this  time  a  pale,  deli- 
cate, thoughtful  hoy,  small  for  his  age,  shy,  fond  of  books, 
studious  and  industrious.  Here  he  attended  the  common  school, 
and  assisted  some  in  the  light  labors  of  the  farm.  He  joined  the 
Methodist  "class,"  though  his  uncle  was  a  Baptist.  A  yeai 
later,  his  father  sent  him  to  the  old  Goodell  homestead,  in  Pom- 
fret,  Conn.,  to  live  with  his  widowed  grandmother  Goodell,  and 
several  uncles  and  aunts,  her  children.  Here  his  father  once 
visited  him,  during  the  first  year  of  his  stay;  and  this  was  the 
last  time  he  ever  saw  his  father. 

Frederic  Goodell  died  of  paralvsis,  at  the  age  of  forty-live. 
He  had,  meantime,  re-married,  and  left  a  daughter  Rhoda,  the 
child  of  his  second  wife, surviving  him.  This  half-sister  William 
never  saw  but  once,  when  he  sought  her  out,  and  found  her  a 
wife  and  mother.  She  died  earlv.  With  her  children  ke  always 
kept  up  a  pleasant  acquaintance.  William's  four  brothers  \\ere 
scattered  among  their  relatives,  and  saw  each  other  seldom,  though 
maintaining  a  friendly  acquaintance,  bv  means  of  correspondence 
and  occasional  visits,  through  life. 

William  resided  in  Pomfret  nearly  five  year-,  attending 
the  common  school  winters;  working  on  the  farm  sum- 
mers, gradually  improving  in  health  and  strength.  Here  he 
attended  the  Congregational  Church,  and  enjoyed  the  advan- 
tages of  two  good  libraries,  the  contents  of  which  he  eagerly 
devoured  during  the  long  winter  evenings.  But  among  his 


II 

most  valued  literary  and  religious  privileges  he  numbered  the 
society  of  his  grandmother,  the  Hannah  Cheney  whom  we  have 
described ;  "  one  of  the  strong  minded  women  of  her  times."  As 
an  illustration — if  one  were  needed — that  women  of  a  century 
ago  had  their  thoughts  on  questions  of  public  interest,  we  give 
an  extract  from  William's  reminiscences  of  his  grandmother, 
written  in  mature  life  :  "My  grandmother,  who  long  survived 
Continental  money,  never  ceased  to  lament  that  the  people  could 
not  have  learned  from  their  calamities  to  discard  all  paper  cur- 
rencies. She  had  the  past  history  of  them  at  her  tongue's  end, 
and  entered  deep  into  the  philosophy,  and  (as  she  believed)  the 
necessary  operations  of  them.  She  spoke  as  confidently  of  the 
future  as  of  the  past;  foretold  the  breaking  of  paper  money 
banks;  their  alternate  expansions  and  contractions;  their  suspen- 
sions of  specie  payments;  their  liberal  loans,  when  the  people 
would  be  better  off  without  them;  the  ruthless  calling  of  them 
in,  when  the  people  most  needed  them.  She  saw,  as  already 
present,  the  facilities  they  would  afford  to  speculators  and 
gamblers  in  the  'whole  staff  of  bread,'  who  would  amass  for- 
tunes by  creating  artificial  famines  in  times  of  plenty.  She  fore- 
told the  excessive  importations  of  foreign  goods,  resulting  from 
an  inflated  currency,  giving  to  all  commodities  a  deceptive  valu- 
ation; she  deprecated  their  deleterious  and  corrupting  influence 
on  politics,  the  connection  of  the  paper  banks  with  the  govern- 
ment, the  fluctuations  of  a  currency  depending  on  popular 
elections,  the  expedients  that  would  be  resorted  to,  either  to 
bolster  up  rotten  paper  corporations,  or  else  to  counteract  the 
effects  of  excessive  importations  induced  by  them.  Among 
these,  she  even  particularized  high  duties  on  imports,  in  my 
hearing,  in  1806,  ten  years  before  the  measure  was  resorted  to; 
but  this,  she  said,  would  only  complicate,  not  remedy,  the  evil. 
When  the  first  National  Bank  was  chartered,  she  predicted  the 
repeal  or  non-extension  of  the  charter,  but  said  there  would 
probably  be  another,  and  if  so,  '  it  would  turn  out  worse  than  the 
first.'  And  finally,  she  predicted  the  ultimate  explosion  of  the 
entire  paper  money  system,  'some  time  or  other."1 
Of  New  England  life  in  olden  times,  he  writes: 
"  The  diet  of  our  New  England  ancestors  was  frugal  and 
simple.  Brown  bread,  made  of  rye  and  Indian  meal,  and  un- 
bolted, was  in  common  use.  The_  soil  did  not  produce  much 
wheat,  and  it  was  not  good  economy  to  buy  much  of  it;  its  use 
was  reserved  for  particular  occasions.  Bean  porridge,  or  what 


12 

we  would  now  call  bean  soup,  has  been  called  the  '.Spartan 
broth'  of'  New  Kngland.  Tea  was  little  used  except  by  the 
ladies,  and  by  them  chiefly  when  they  had  company;  bo\  s  and 
girls  seldom  tasted  it;  their  chief  diet  was  bean  porridge,  or,  at 
a  later  date,  bread  and  milk.  .Salted  beef  and  pork,  as  well  as 
codfish  and  potatoes  mid  greens,  were  in  general  use.  C'oH'ce 
was  hardly  in  general  use  in  my  boyhood.  Toasted  bread  or 
burnt  rye,  under  the  name1  of  coffee,  answered  the  purpose. 
Men.  in  my  grandfather's  time,  yielded  both  tea  and  coffee  to  the 
women.  Perhaps  this  was  partly  because  they  preferred  cider, 
which  was  making  a  bad  choice.  *  *  *  As  a  cause  of  the 
general  intelligence  of  those  days,  may  be  mentioned  the  arrange- 
ment (at  least  in  Connecticut)  by  which  official  and  legal  business 
was  transacted  in  the  towns,  parishes,  and  school  districts,  which 
in  other  states  is  done  only  at  the  county  seat,  by  a  few  persons,  sus- 
tained by  high  fees,  or  large  salaries.  In  Connecticut,  deeds  are 
recorded  by  the  town  clerk ;  estates  are  settled  in  the  probate  dis- 
trict, comprising  one  or  two  townships.  Everything  is  done  in  the 
rural  neighborhood,  and  the  whole  rural  neighborhood  learns 
how  to  do  it.  You  wish  a  deed  i-ecorded;  you  find  the  town 
clerk  with  his  hoe  among  the  corn,  or  on  his  bench  with  his 
last;  he  drops  his  tool,  records  your  deed,  pockets  his  two  or 
three  shillings,  and  goes  about  his  work  again.  So,  perhaps, 
of  the  judge  of  the  probate  and  his  clerk;  or  you  may  find  one 
or  both  of  them  behind  the  counter  of  the  village  store;  or 
holding  their  probate  court  in  their  counting-room.  No  marvel 
that  the  son  of  the  Yankee  farmer  or  mechanic,  go  where  he  may » 
so  readily  adapts  himself  to  all  sorts  of  business — teaches  school, 
turns  merchant,  enters  the  counting-house,  and  is  soon  ready  to 
transact  all  sorts  of  business  on  a  smaller  or  on  a  larger  scale. 
The  rudiments  of  it  all  have  been  learned  in  the  business-like 
training  he  has  had  at  home,  in  addition  to  the  common  school. 
Rural  life  in  Connecticut,  in  the  days  of  my  father  and  grand- 
father, was  itself  the  common  school  of  its  successive  generations; 
a  school  in  which  study,  business,  and  manual  labor,  were  con- 
tinually alternated  with  the  rolling  seasons,  and  most  effectually 
combined." 

The  young  William  ardently  longed  for  a  collegiate  educa- 
tion, but  in  this  hope  he  was  disappointed,  and  at  the  age  of 
eighteen  accepted  a  mercantile  opening  in  Providence,  R.  I. 
Later,  he  returned  to  his  Pomfret  home  to  teach  a  winter  school; 
but  we  soon  find  him  again  in  Providence,  an  active,  energetic, 


'3 

hopeful  young  man  of  twenty,  a  clerk  in  a  store,  an  officer  among 
the  "cadets,"  who  were  training  for  possible  militaiy  duty, 
rendered  imminent  by  the  War  of  1812;  and  a  boarder  in  the 
family  of  deacon  Josiah  Cady,  with  whose  blue-eyed  daughter 
of  sixteen  he  found  it  the  most  natural  thing  in  the  world  to  walk 
home  from  church.  About  this  time  we  find  him  writing  a 
breezy,  cheerful  letter  to  one  of  his  Connecticut  aunts,  com- 
mencing— 

"From  the  noisy  wharves  and  dusty  streets  of  Providence, 
to  the  retired  and  peaceful  valley  of  Abington,  William  Goodell 
sendeth  greeting." 

With  the  aunts  still  living  in  his  old  Pom  fret  home,  he 
kept  up  a  brisk  correspondence  for  those  times,  and  appears  to 
have  acted  as  their  agent  for  the  sale  of  various  farm  products, 
and  the  purchase  of  household  commodities.  In  1815  he  appears 
to  have  been  in  business  for  himself,  for  he  speaks  of  having 
suffered  much  loss  by  the  terrible  inundations  of  that  year. 
"  The  water,"  he  says,  "  was  about  four  feet  deep  in  my  store, 
and  the  whole  building  must  have  been  crushed  to  atoms,  but 
for  two  small  trees  that  warded  off  the  ships.  I  remained  in  my 
store  as  long  as  possible,  securing  my  goods  to  the  best  advan- 
tage, and  then,  with  some  difficulty,  retreated  to  a  building  oppo- 
site. 

In  1816  he  writes:  "The  honorable  legislature  of  Rhode 
Island  convenes  in  town  to-day;  a  circumstance,  the  recurrence 
of  which  I  have  learned  to  di'ead,  as  they  are  in  the  regular  habit 
of  extending  the  'benefit  of  the  act  of  insolvency  '  to  about  half 
of  my  delinquent  customers  at  every  session,  not  at  all  to  my 
benefit  or  convenience." 

"  In  December  he  accepted  an  offer  from  Cyrus  Butler  and 
E.  Carrington  &  Co.,  to  act  as  super-cargo  of  one  of  their  ships, 
bound  to  the  East  Indies,  China  and  the  European  markets.  He 
accordingly  embarked  on  a  sloop  at  Providence,  Dec.  21,  and 
reached  New  York  the  26th;  sailing  in  the  Integrity  from  N. 
Y.  Jan.  i,  1817.  He  returned  to  America  in  May,  1819,  after  a 
long,  but  prosperous  and  instructive  voyage.  Of  this  voyage  he 
kept  a  journal  which  is  still  in  existence,  and  from  which  we 
make  a  few  brief  extracts,  as  indicative  of  his  character  at  that 
time. 

"  Feb.  5,  1817.  Saw,  for  the  first  time,  a  poor  jack  tar  hand- 
cuffed and  whipped  with  a  rope's  end,  for  disrespectful  treatment 
of  an  officer  of  the  deck.  Which  of  them  were  free  from  blame 


'1 

hca\en  knows — or  whether  either;  but  to  me  tin-  sight  was  very 
disgusting  and  mortifying.  I  )isgusting,  because  I  thought  I  saw 
revenge  disguising  herself  under  tin-  garb  of'  justice  for  e\eii 
supposing  the  culprit  had  merited  all  the  punishment  he  received, 
the  feelings  of  the  executioner  should  have  been  calm,  or  at  least 
his  manner.  Mortifying,  because  I  blushed  for  human  nature. 
*  *  *  If  the  pens  of  Kdwards  and  of  Paul  had  not  failed  to 
convince  mankind  of  their  degraded  and  depraved  state,  I  might 
he  tempted  to  write  an  essav  upon  the  subject  here.  And,  if 
Rush  had  not  written  in  vain,  an  illiterate  youth  might  be  excu- 
sable in  penning  a  lew  inquiries  respecting  the-  nature  and  effi- 
ciency of  corporal  punishments.  Some  little  scenes  in  the  drama 
of  life  speak  volumes  of  instruction;  but  common  occurrences 
are  seldom  subjects  of  much  reflection." 

"  Whoever  hath  the  misfortune  to  travel  bv  sea,  should  take 
care  that  delicacy  of  feeling  form  no  part  of  his  cargo." 

"  Commerce  owes  to  literature  a  debt  so  infinite  that  she  can 
never  fully  liquidate  it.  Yet  commerce  verv  ostentatiously  pre- 
tends to  generosity  toward  literature;  whenevershesqueex.es  her 
out  a  scanty  moity  of  her  just  due  in  the  occasional  endowment 
of  a  college,  or  the  preservation  of  the  life  of  a  starving  genius.'11 

"May  26,  1817.  At  Penang.  Went  on  shore  earlv  in  the 
morning  to  attend  to  getting  our  bread  on  board  from  the  fish- 
eries. Spent  some  time  with  my  Chinese  friend  Ticcow  ;  he  had 
many  inquiries  to  make  respecting  America,  and  made  me  leave 
my  name  on  a  card,  that  he  might  find  me  if  he  should  ever 
come  to  Rhode  Island.  I  believe  he  seriously  thinks  of  visiting 
America;  and  many  others  of  his  nation  here  are  verv  particular 
in  their  enquiries  respecting  the  emoluments  of  their  respective 
occupations  in  my  country.  Chinese  emigration  is  a  new  thing, 
the  hounds  are  broken  through,  and  who  knows  how  much  the 
outlet  may  widen,  and  how  copious  a  stream  may  issue!  That 
curiously  insulated  empire  is  immensely  over-peopled.  If  North 
America,  in  the  year  1875,  should  contain  thousands  of  Chinese, 
it  would  be  no  miracle.  They  are  verv  industrious  and  enter- 
prising here,  and  in  fact  the  very  life  of  this  Island."  Speaking 
of  the  young  ladies  of  Penang,  he  says:  "  They  are  uneducated, 
but  I  must  confess  that  the  absence  of  affectation  almost  atoned 
(with  me,  at  least),  for  the  absence  of  accomplishments" 

During  this  voyage  he  both  studied  and  taught  navigation, 
some  of  his  pupils  afterwards  becoming  captains  of  ships  them- 
selves. He  kept  a  journal,  with  copious  notes  of  all  lie  saw, 


'5 

pen  and  ink  sketches  of  scenery,  and  jottings  of  literary  and 
scientific  study.  He  also  wrote  occasional  bits  of  poetry,  of 
which  the  following  is  perhaps  a  fair  sample: 

THE  ORPHAN'S  DREAM  AT  SEA. 


"  The  sea  was  smooth,  the  moon  shone  bright; 
The  breeze  was  gently  blowing; 
Silent  our  vessel  moved,  and  light, 
With  sails  all  full  and  flowing. 

"  When  fondly  musing  on  the  past, 
Pensive  I  sought  my  pillow, 
And  sleep  o'ercame  my  cares  at  last, 
Lulled  by  the  rippling  billow. 

"  And  then  a  dream  so  grandly  wild, 
So  sweetly  calm,  came  o:er  me, 
That,  still  entranced — enwrapt, — beguiled — 
The  vision  floats  before  me. 

"  Methought  I  saw  an  angel  bright 
Come  walking  on  the  ocean, 
Beauty  around  her  shone  like  light, 
And  God-like  was  her  motion. 

"  Her  voice  was  like  the  rising  breath 
Of  music's  loftiest  measures: 
She  sang  the  Victory  over  Death; 
She  spake  of  heavenly  pleasures. 

' '  Why,  mortal,  in  this  sea  of  tears 
Why  would'st  thou  wander  longer? 
Increasing,  with  increasing  years, 
The  bonds  of. flesh  grow  stronger; 

'  'The  bonds  that  still  confine  thee  down; 
Some  who  have  gone  before  thee 
Inherit  an  unfading  crown, 
And  oft  are  hovering  o'er  thee. 

'  '  Even  now  is  near  to  thee,  once  dear, 
A  friend  enthron'd  above  thee! 
Say,  would'st  thou  brave  the  clay-cold  grave, 
To  rest  with  those  that  love  thee  ? ' 

"  She  paus'd,  a  moonbeam  cross'd  her  face — 
A  sigh  she  seem'd  to  smother — 
Then  beckoned  me  to  her  embrace — 
'  O,  God ! '  I  cried — '  My  mother.' — 

'  •  I  come! — I  come! — O,  take  me  home!  '— 
And  sprang  with  exultation— 
The  vision  broke,  and  I  awoke 
To  mourn  the  separation."' 


i6 

In  1818  he  wrote  from  Amsterdam,  to  a  friend: 

"  I  have  been  to-day  in  the  Royal  Palace,  and  was  shown 
to  every  part  of  it.  Splendid,  indeed;  the  walls  of  marble.  *  *  * 
The  building  is  just  now  unoccupied,  the  king  having  left  this 
city  a  few  days  since  for  the  Hague.  So  we,  a  party  of  Yankees, 
made  ourselves  quite  at  home  there;  left  nothing  unexplored 
not  even  the  bed  chambers  of  the  Princess;  walked  in  the  grand 
hall  where  a  splendid  ball  was  given,  not  long  since,  to  the  Em- 
peror Alexander,  of  Russia;  and— not  content  with  all  these 
high  honors,  aspired  so  high  as  to  take  our  seats,  by  turns,  upon 
the  Throne  of  Holland — very  much  to  the  diversion  of  the  at- 
tendants! Point  me  not  to  the  ruins  of  Carthage,  to  the  moul- 
dering towers  of  Palmyra,  or  the  tombs  of  the  Ca-sars,  for 
proofs  of  the  vanity  of  human  grandeur.  There  is  enough  of 
littleness  stamped,  methinks,  upon  all  the  cob-web  greatness  of 
man,  even  in  its  very  perfection  and  completeness,  to  make  one 
say  to  himself,  as  he  views  it — '  And  is  this  all? ' 

Returning  to  Providence  in  1819,  he  entered  the  counting 
house  of  Cyrus  Butler,  where,  with  the  exception  of  a  winter  of 
commercial  life  in  Wilmington,  N.  C.,  he  remained  until  he 
formed  a  partnership  with  William  Butler,  nephew  and  pros- 
pective heir  of  Cyrus  Butler,  and  engaged  in  the  flour  trade  in 
Alexandria,  Va. 

On  the  4th  of  July,  1823,  the  long  attachment  between  him- 
self and  Miss  Clarissa  Cady,  of  Providence,  culminated  in  mar- 
riage, and  his  first  home,  since  that  of  his  early  childhood  in  the 
forest  cabin  of  N.  Y.,  was  made  in  Alexandria,  amid  far  different 
scenes;  for  he  was  now  a  successful  merchant,  and  able  to  sur- 
round himself  with  comforts  and  luxuries.  Of  the  numerous 
letters  which  passed  between  the  young  couple  before  their  mar- 
riage, we  are  tempted  to  quote  from  one  of  William's  written  in 
rhyme,  showing  that  the  prose  of  a  business  drill  did  not  quite 
efface  all  love  of  literature  and  poetry.  It  is  dated  at  Wilming- 
ton, N.  C.,  March,  1821. 


E'en  here,  a  hermit  'mid  a  crowd. 

Too  proud  to  herd  with  nabobs  proud  — 

Who  crack  their  whips,  and  swear,  and  rave, 

And  count  themselves  most  wondr'us  brave, 

That  they  can  boldly  lash — a  sla\  r  ! 

Where  faint-warm  days,  and  cold-damp  nights, 

The  rose  of  health  and  beauty  blights, 


»7 

Ev'n  midst  this  Carolinian  fen 

I  pluck  some  flowers;  I  find  some  men  ! 

*  *  * 

"  Yet  converse  sweet  e'en  here  I've  known; 
Quite  intimate  with  Cowper  grown. 
He'll  tell  me  all  about  the  preacher, 
And  mimic  every  air  and  feature. 
From  Baxter  next  I  have  a  'call,' 
Over  against  me  by  the  wall ; 
His  reverend  form  methinks  I  see, 
His  every  word  addressed  to  me ; 
And  thus  a  preacher  oft  I  gain 
After  I've  searched  the  Church  in  vain. 
Columbia's  giant  next  appears — 
Edwards — the  Paul  of  later  years; 
And  still  a  mightier  form  glides  by — 
Prophetic  light  illumes  his  eye — 
With  lips  that  glow  with  hallow'd  fire — 
Lo!  'tis  Isaiah  strikes  the  lyre! 
In  strains  angelic  o'er  the  chords, 
He  hymns  the  Incarnate  Lord  of  Lords. 
'  And  while  his  music  rolls  along,' 
'  Raised  by  the  magic  of  his  song,' 
Awhile  I  soar  upon  his  wings, 
And  half  aspire  to  touch  the  strings 
Of  David's  harp  that  long  has  slept, 
By  mortal  fingers  seldom  swept. 
But  themes  so  sacred,  so  sublime, 
Out  soar  the  feeble  sons  of  Time. 
The  flame  that  should  ascend  on  high 
Expires — an  ineffectual  sigh !  " 

In  Alexandria  was  horn  their  first  daughter,  Clarissa  Virginia, 
who  died  in  infancy.  Owing  to  unexpected  fluctuations  in  trade, 
the  firm  of  Wm.  Butler  &  Co.,  for  a  time  successful,  lost  heavily; 
and  Wm.  Goodell  returned  to  Providence.  Wm.  Butler  died 
young,  lie  was  the  uncle  of  Wm.  Butler  Duncan,  the  New 
York  hanker  and  capitalist.  Soon  after  Mr.  Goodell  found  em- 
ployment as  hook-keeper  in  the  counting  house  of  Phelps  & 
Peck,  of  New  York;  the  same  firm  afterwards  known  as  Phelps, 
Dodge  &  Co.,  and  later  as  Wm.  E.  Dodge  &  Co.  While  in  New 
York  at  this  time  he  aided  in  forming  and  conducting  the  pre- 
sent Mercantile  Library  Association  of  New  York,  of  which  in 
1826,  he  was  chosen  a  Director,  and  office  which  he  held  till  his 
removal  from  the  city. 

But  Wm.  Goodell  grew  restive  over  his  day  book  and 
ledger.  To  his  vision  a  terrible  conflict  was  being  waged  be- 
tween the  Hosts  of  Heaven  and  the  Powers  of  Darkness,  and  he 


i8 

longed  to  plunge  into  the  thickest  of  the  tight.  What  to  him 
were  tlu- d:iily  balancing  of  profit  :m<l  loss  <>\er  palm  hales  <>f 
cotton,  when  sla\crv  \v;is  creeping  stealthily  onward,  threatening 

to  enchain  the  nation;  when  the-  Drink  Demon  \v;is  ~-la\ing  its 
thousands  yearly  ;  when  lottery  gambling  w;is  ;it  its  height,  un- 
rchuked  hv  Church  or  State ;  and  when  fraudulent  schemes  of 
banking  and  insuranee  institutions,  skillfully  adapted  and  notori- 
ously designed  to  amass  fortunes  hy  swindling  the  people  were 
rife,  and  predecessors  of  Tweed  and  Credit  Mohelier  operators 
controlled  judges  and  legislators,  till  even  the  Senate  of  the  State 
of  New  York,  acting  as  a  high  Court  of  Appeal,  declared  that 
"a  conspiracy  to  defraud  is  no  indictable  ollense." 

Already  he  had  taken  up  that  little  weapon  "mightier  than 
the  sword,"  and  wielded  it  with  telling  effect  against  the  great 
sin  of  slavery.  While  in  the  counting  house  of  Cyrus  1  hitler, 
in  1820,  moved  by  the  then  pending  "  Missouri  Compromise" 
which  gave  the  new  State  of  Missouri  to  slavery,  and  especially 
by  the  vote  of  a  favorite  representative  from  Rhode  Island  in  its 
favor,  he  wrote,  over  the  signature  of  "  Edgar,"  the  following 
poem,  which  appeared  in  the  Providence  Gazette: 

"  High  on  her  snow-white  cloud  enthron'd, 
Fair  Freedom,  like  a  Goddess  rode; 
Columbia's  realms  her  sceptre  own'd; 
Columbia  was  her  chos'n  abode. 

"  There  all  beneath  her  eagle  eye 
Confess'd  her  fire  in  every  vein, 
Save  where  beneath  the  southern  sky 
The  helpless  A  trie  clank'd  his  chain. 

"  The  Goddess  long  had  view'd  with  pain 
That  blot  of  trans-atlantic  guilt; 
Nor  could  she  purge  away  the  stain 
With  all  the  blood  her  sons  hail  >pilt. 

"  That  monument  of  Britain's  shame 
Britania's  shameless  sons  had  spied, 
And,  hissing  at  Columbia's  name, 
With  taunting  voice  to  Freedom  cried ; 

"  'From  Albion's  isle,  o'er  waters  wide 
And  didst  thou  flee  to  lodge  with  slaves? 
Go!  driv'n  from  all  the  world  beside, 
Go!  skulk  in  Tell's  and  Cato's  graves!  ' 

"  Columbia's  chiefs  in  council  met, 
And  Freedom,  sighing,  bent  to  hear, 


With  drops  of  grief  her  locks  were  wet, 
Her  bosom  heav'd,  with  hope  and  fear. 

"  Full  well  she  knew  her  wily  foe, 
But  more  she  fear'd  her  treacherous  friends, 
Whose  hollow  words,  and  vaporous  show 
But  ill  disguised  their  selfish  ends. 

"  L'o!  with  their  shout  the  welkin  rings — 
'  All  men  are  equal — all  are  free!  ' — 
The  lash  resounds — the  groan  ascends, 
Commingling ! — horrid  harmony  ! — 

"  The  vaunting  Fiend  of  Slavery  rose, 
Besmear'd  and  drunk  with  human  blood, 
And  swore  to  extend  her  cup  of  woes 
Far  onward  to  the  western  flood. 

"  My  country !  heards't  thou  not  the  storm 
That  menaced  ev?n  the  Eternal  Throne? 
Coulds't  thou  embrace  that  grizzly  form 
That  hell  herself  would  fain  disown? 

"  Fair  Freedom  saw,  with  angel  smile, 
Her  chosen  few  stand  firm  and  fast; 
But  some  she  knew  might  fight  awhile, 
And  shrink,  and  basely  yield  at  last. 

"  Of  patriots,  prompt  at  duty's  call, 
How  few  she  found,  or  dared  to  trust! 
Expediency  was  all  in  all ; 
Their  virtue,  gain ;  their  treasure,  dust. 

"  Christians  could  'compromise'  with  crime, 
The  path  King  Saul  and  Judas  trod; 
Could  balance  dollar,  cent,  and  dime, 
Against  the  changeless  laws  of  God! 

'•  With  pencil,  scale,  and  chart  in  hand, 
Her  sons  she  saw,  absorb'd  in  pelf, 
Coolly  divide  their  native  land 
Between  the  Demon  and  herself! 

"  The  towering  Andes  caught  her  view, 
She  stretched  her  pinions  to  depart, 
Her  faltering  tongue  delay'd  the  adieu 
That  trembled  in  her  broken  heart; 

"  When  lo!  beneath  the  eastern  sky, 
A  dawn  of  glory  seemed  to  ope, 
A  svell  known  voice  was  heard  to  cry 
Stay,  Freedom  stay!  "  In  God  we  hope."  * 

*  The  motto  of  Rhode  Island. 


20 

"  Lo!  in  tlic  east  one  cloudless  star, 
A  little  jjfin,  but  rich  and  bright, 
In  hrauty  twinkling  from  afar, 

Like  Mercury  on  tin-  brow  of  ni^lit! 

•  '.   in  the  east  an  unMain'd  soil, 
One  little  spot  \vhcre  man  is  free, 
Where  outcast  patriarchs,  worn  with  toil, 
O,  Freedom!  found  a  rest  for  thce! 

"  Where  first  upon  this  earthly  clod, 
Serenely  firm  and  safely  bold, 
The  pure  in  heart  ador'd  their  God, 
Bv  fellow  mortals  uncontroll'd. 

"  The  land  whose  banners  still  upborne, 
Protect  th'  oppressed  of  ev'ry  clime; 
Whose  Perry's  and  whose  Greene's  have  sworn 
To  guard  her  rights  to  latest  time. 

"  Lo!  where  they  come,  her  chosen  band, 
Unbought  by  gold,  unaw'd  by  pow'r, 
Though  myriad's  fall,  shall  they  not  stand, 
The  Abdiels*  of  an  evil  hour? 

"  The  lingering  Goddess  in  the  sky, 
Listen'd  and  watch'd  with  changeful  cheek, 
A  ray  of  hope  illumed  her  eye, 
But  soon  was  heard  her  swooning  shriek. 

"  Spirits  infernal  were  at  prayer, 
A  deathly  smoke  was  in  the  air, 
Rhode  Island's  guardian  genius  slept, 
Kddy  revolted — angels  wept!" 

The  publication  of  this  poem  excited  a  good  deal  of 
discussion  in  prose.  "Edgar"  followed  it  up  with  a  series  of 
vigorous  and  telling  articles  replete'  with  the  close  logic,  sound 
Statesmanship,  and  high  moral  tone  for  which  he  afterwanK  he- 
ramc  distinguished.  In  the  course  of  these  articles,  among  other 
things,  he  predicted  the  subsequent  repeal  of  the  act,  and  the 
further  extension  of  slavery. 

After  going  to  New  York,  he  had  sent  occasional  articles 
to  the  Providence  papers;  usually  in  poetry.  Among  these  the 
"  Harp  of  Zion,"  and  the  "Christian  Warfare"  attracted  par- 
ticular attention.  The  closing  verse  of  a  poem  which  he  pub- 
lished about  the  same  time,  expresses  so  well  his  feeling,  that  we 
cannot  forbear  to  quote  it  here: 


-'  The  seraph  Ahdicl, 


Faithful  found  amoiiu  tin-  t~.iithl.-ss.'     MII.TON. 


21 

"  Daughter  of  Zion!  once  so  fair, 
With  joy  and  gladness  crown'd; 
Well  inayst  thou  hang  thy  harp  in  air, 
And  weep  upon  the  ground: 
Who  shall  arise  and  plead  thy  cause — 
Avenge  thy  wrongs — support  thy  larvs — 
Where  shall  the  men  be  found? 
Jerusalem!  while  thou'rt  distress'd, 
I  cannot — no! — I  will  not  rest!  " 

In  1827  he  returned  to  Providence  and  commenced  his  week- 
ly "  Investigator,"  determined  to  lift  up  a  standard  against  the 
tide  of  demoralization.  This  was  at  about  the  same  time  that 
Arthur  Tappan,  afterwards  his  co-laborer,  started  the  Journal  of 
Commerce,  in  New  York,  with  the  same  end  in  view.  Here  it 
was,  at  the  age  of  thirty-five,  that  William  Goodell,  ever  after 
dated  the  commencement  of  his  life-work.  Writing  of  it,  years 
afterward,  he  said : 

"  All  my  previous  life  was  preparatory  to  this.  When 
providentially  debarred  from  acquiring  a  Collegiate  education,  I 
had  cheerfully  acquiesced,  trusting  that  my  life  and  destiny  were 
under  the  oversight  and  direction  of  a  wisdom  high  above  my 
own.  When  and  how  this  should  appear  I  could  not  foresee.  It 
might  be  by  the  early  acquisition  of  means  sufficient  to  carry  me 
through  College,  or  it  might  be  by  the  accumulation  of  ample 
wealth,  which,  contributed  to  religious  and  benevolent  enter- 
prises, then  just  coming  into  existence,  might  effect  more  good 
than  I  could  expect  to  accomplish  by  learning.  These  dreams 
were  dispelled.  Evidently  I  was  not  destined  to  be  rich.  What 
good  could  I,  then,  do  in  the  world?  Was  there  not  much  need- 
ing to  be  done,  which  colleges,  with  all  their  important  uses  and 
benefits,  could  not  do;  which  the  college-learned  in  Church  and 
State,  with  all  their  indispensable  services,  had  scarcely,  or  rarely, 
thought  of  attempting?  Nothing  that  needed  processes  of  edu- 
cation widely  diverse  from  those  with  which  they  were  familiar? 
Had  I  received  no  educational  training  for  a  much  needed  work? 
For  seventeen  years  I  had  been  mingling  in  the  busy  scenes  of 
active  life,  where  men  are  ever  acting  out  themselves,  and  betray- 
ing the  moral  or  immoral  maxims  by  which  they  are  really  gov- 
erned. In  America,  in  Europe,  and  in  Asia,  the  map  of  com- 
mercial life,  usages,  and  maxims  had  passed  under  my  inspection, 
Intellectually,  if  I  had  lost  much  that  is  taught  in  colleges,  I  had 
gained  much  that  is  not  taught  in  them;  nautical  astronomy;  theo- 
retical and  practical  navigation,  and  seamanship;  and,  in  the  count- 


ing  house,  finances,  accbuntancy  by  double  entry,  in  itself  a  science 
comparable,  f«ir  mental  training,  with  most  of  the  demonstrative 
sciences.  Long  sea  passages  of  ninety  t<>  o\er  one  hundred  da\s 
each,  had  afforded  me  enviable  opportunities,  not  unimproved, 
for  miscellaneous  reading,  and  secluded  meditation  andstud\  ;  in 
which  the  pen  \\  as  not  idle." 

Nor,  from  this  date,  was  his  pen  ever  idle  till  he  dropped  it 
over  an  unfinished  article  in  his  eighty-sixth  year,  just  one  \\eek 
before  he  breathed  his  last. 

From  the  prospectus  of  the  Investigator,  we  <|iiote  a  feu 
sentences,  to  give  an  idea  of  its  tone: 

"  Considering,  as  we  do,  that  political  science  should  he- 
based  on  moral  principle,  and  that  no  scheme  of  morals  lias  ever 
appeared  among  men  so  pure,  so  salutary,  so  mild,  or  so  ellicicnt 
as  that  furnished  by  Christianity,  we  shall  endeavor  to  conform 
our  political  maxims  to  its  precepts.  *  *  *  Relieving,  as  we  do 
that  no  free  State  was  ever  wholly  upheld  by  its  own  coersive 
power,  and  with  Montesquieu,  that  'free  States  have  oftener 
perished  through  corruption  of  manners,  than  violation  of  laws;' 
we  shall  regard  the  education,  manners,  and  morals  of  the  com- 
munity as  matters  of  primary  interest  to  the  commonwealth. 
But  from  this  it  will  not  follow  that  the  State,  as  such,  must  do 
nothing  towards  its  own  preservation.  Civil  liberty  we  consi- 
der to  be  founded  on  law,  not  on  the  absence  of  it.  Salntarv 
restraint  is  its  basis.  And  if  civil  government  may  not  require 
its  own  foundation,  it  ceases  to  be  a  government  at  all.  *  *  ' 
On  all  questions  involving  moral  principle,  we  hope  to  stand 
aloof  from  unrighteous  compromise.  Here  we  hope  to  be  inflex- 
ible, and  expect  to  be  accorded  stubborn.  We  must  contend  that 
utility  neither  constitutes  virtue,  nor  can  supply  its  place.  In 
opposition  to  prevalent  error  we  must  maintain  that  virtue  is  the 
only  true  expediency,  to  which  all  specious  plans  of  iniquitv 
must  be  made  to  bend.  Schemes  of  national  aggrandizement, 
fancied  insults,  or  hereditary  antipathies,  we  hope  will  not  in- 
spire us  with  the  war-song;  nor  move  us  to  excite  in  the  com- 
munity a  spirit  of  revenge.  On  the  contrary,  we  hope  to  see 
among  all  nations  an  increasing  spirit  of  equity  and  aversion  to 
war.  We  shall  take  a  deep  interest  in  all  judicious  measures  fur 
the  final  emancipation  of  the  oppressed  and  enslaved,  wherever 
they  exist.  We  shall  watch  with  an  anxious  scrutiny  the  devel- 
opments of  those  phenomena  of  moral  enterprise  which  charac- 
terize the  present  age,  with  the  view  of  ascertaining  from  prin- 


33 

ciples  and  from  facts  their  probable  or  actual  bearing  upon  the 
interests  of  virtue  and  humanity,  and  with  the  determination  of 
awarding  to  each  of  them  the  censure  or  the  praise  we  believe 
them  to  deserve.  *  *  *  We  cannot  drag  the  car  of  party,  nor 
of  personal  ambition.  We  will  never  consent  to  thrive  by  in- 
flaming groundless  jealousies,  by  flattering  the  vicious,  or  by 
courting  the  profligate.  *  *  *  Truth  and  Righteousness  is  the 
motto  of  our  flag,  and  we  nail  it  to  the  mast  head,  content  to  sink 
or  swim  beneath  it,  as  an  all  wise-  Providence  may  determine." 
The  Investigator  drifted  so  largely  into  temperance  work 
that  in  1829  it  was  removed  to  Boston  and  connected  with  the 
"  National  Philanthropist."  Here  Mr.  Goodell  attended  the 
preaching  of  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher,  then  in  his  prime.  A  year 
later  his  paper  was  again  removed  to  New  York,  where  it  was 
continued  under  the  name  of  the  "  Genius  of  Temperance."  As 
is  usual  with  all  papers  of  which  the  first  aim  is  a  moral  and  not 
a  financial  one,  this  periodical  had  a  hard  struggle  for  existence. 
Again  and  again  its  indefatigable  editor  was  forced  into  the  lec- 
ture field  to  awaken  or  keep  alive  the  popular  interest  in  the  re- 
forms advocated,  and  obtain  subscribers,  and  donations,  to  keep  it 
afloat.  Bitterly  disappointed,  at  times,  in  the  apathy  of  professed 
Christian  men  from  whom  he  had  a  right  to  expect  aid  and  sym- 
pathy, he  was  well  nigh  despairing,  but  never  quite  willing  to 
give  up.  To  one  who  hinted  that  he  was  in  danger  of  neglecting 
his  family,  in  his  zeal  for  the  public  good,  he  wrote:  "  I  know  I 
have  a  duty  to  my  family  and  friends,  as  well  as  to  my  country; 
and  that  there  may  be  danger  of  my  neglecting  the  former  in  my 
zeal  for  the  latter.  But  the  q*uestion  is  how  I  shall  better  dis- 
charge my  duty  to  my  family  and  friends,  and  to  myself  by  re- 
linquishing this  business?  Providence,  indeed,  seems  to  have 
closed  up  every  other  avenue — to  have  thwarted  me  on  every 
other  course,  and  to  have  driven  me  and  confined  me  to  this 
work,  which  has  been  pent  up  as  a  fire  in  my  bones  for  a  quar- 
ter of  a  century.  Jonah  declined  his  embassy  and  fled  to  Tar- 
shish,  but  the  winds  and  the  waves,  and  the  monsters  of  the 
deep,  saw  well  to  it  that  he  returned  and  accomplished  his  task. 
And  the  winds  and  the  waves  of  adversity,  since  Sept.  1815, 
have  been  against  me.  Not  once  to  Tarshish,  but  ttvicc  to  ut- 
most India,  (4,000  miles  beyond  Tarshish)  have  I  vainly  fled. 
And  if  the  gourd  which  has  sheltered  my  head  while  delivering 
my  message,  and  watching  the  results,  should  wither  and  lea\e 
me  defenseless,  I  ought  not  to  murmur,  nor  to  pray  that  Nineveh 


24 
m;iv  be  spared,  though  she  ill  requites  my  labors, and  quotes  her 

ini|iuiiit\  tn  proclaim  nit-  a  false  alarmist  lor  warning  her.  *  *  * 
I  rejoice  to  know  that  my  last  year's  labor  has  not  been  in  vain, 
though  the  unworthy  instrument  should  he  thrown  aside,  either 
in  mercy  or  in  judgment  to  this  people-.  I  have  prayed — '  send, 
I  .old,  by  iv horn  thou  wilt  send,  vet  command  deliverances  for 
Jacob;'  and  I  have  staved  myself  on  the  promise — 'Trust  in  tin- 
Lord  and  do  good;  so  shalt  thou  dwell  in  the  land;  vea,  verily, 
thou  shalt  be  fed.'  '  Though  there  he  no  herd  in  the  stall,  and  tin- 
flock  he  cutoff  from  the  fold,'  yea,  'though  He  slay  me,  vet 
will  I  trust  in  Him.'  *  *  *  For  the  sake  of  1113  wife  and  child, 
and  friends,  I  will  do  what  will  add  to  their  comfort,  if  I  can 
know  what  it  is.  But  for  myself,  '  I  count  not  my  life  dear  unto 
me,'  so  that  I  can  '  fulfil  as  an  hireling  my  day.'  There  will  he 
rest  enough  in  the  grave.  And  '  what  mean  ye  to  weep  and  to 
break  my  heart,  for  I  am  ready  not  only  to  labor  and  suffer  per- 
plexity and  want,  but  indeed  to  wear  my  life  out '  in  this  cause, 
if  I  may  be  instrumental  in  saving  my  country." 

Six  years  of  severe  labor  in  the  city  of  New  York  followed, 
including  the  terrible  cholera  summer  of  1832,  when  William 
Goodell  was  of  the  few  who  did  not  leave  the  city,  but  sending 
bis  family  to  a  place  of  safety,  boarded  at  the  Graham  boarding 
house,  and  toiled  early  and  late  in  his  editorial  office,  scarcely 
stopping  to  eat  his  meals,  but  munching  his  Graham  crackers 
while  his  pen  sped  rapidly  over  his  paper,  warning  the  people 
against  the  terrible  effects  of  liquor  drinking,  especially  at  that 
trying  time.  Nor  were  intemperance  and  slavery  the  only  vices 
assailed.  Lottery  gambling,  masonry,  political  corruption  and 
immorality  were  severely  attacked  by  his  active  pen.  The  new 
movement  for  "moral  reform,"  inaugurated  by  Rev.  J.  R. 
McDowall,  and  opposed — incredible  as  it  may  seem — not  only 
by  the  ignorant  or  indifferent  multitude,  but  by  a  majority  of 
professing  Christians,  was  warmly  espoused  by  him.  The  move- 
ment of  McDowall,  briefly  explained,  was  this;  the  reformation 
of  fallen  women,  a  severer  condemnation  of  vice  in  men,  placing 
the  sin  in  either  sex  upon  the  same  moral  plane,  and  labor  for 
the  eradication  of  the  social  evil.  The  persecutions  of  the  de- 
voted and  self-denying  McDowall  in  the  inauguration  of  this 
new  reform  would  hardly  be  accredited  if  told  to-dav.  Mr. 
Goodell  not  only  warmly  defended  him,  and  heartily  espoused 
his  cause,  but  besides  advocating  his  principles  in  the  "  Genius 
of  Temperance,"  published  for  two  years  a  small  semi-monthly 


25 

paper,  the  "  Female  Advocate,"  of  which  moral  reform,  as  well 
as  temperance,  was  an  important  feature.  He  also  published  dur- 
ing a  portion  of  this  time,  the  "  Youth's  Temperance  Lecturer," 
probably  the  first  child's  temperance  paper  ever  published. 

It  was  at  this  time  that  Mr.  Goodell,  together  with  Lewis 
and  Arthur  Tappan,  and  other  temperance  reformers,  became 
interested  in  the  lectures  of  Sylvester  Graham,  and  partially 
followed  his  teachings,  giving  up  tea  and  coffee,  meats,  and  high 
seasoning,  and  using  the  unbolted  (or  Graham)  flour  bread. 
They  boarded  for  a  considerable  time  at  the  Graham  boarding 
house  kept  by  Mrs.  Nicholson,  at  which  Horace  Greeley,  then  a 
bashful  young  man,  saying  little  or  nothing,  imbibed  anti-slavery 
principles  from  the  conversation  of  those  around  him  at  the  table. 
Mr.  Goodell  adhered  to  the  simple  diet  adopted  at  this  time? 
through  life,  excepting  that  he  never  strictly  abstained  from 
meats. 

More  and  more  the  question  of  slavery  loomed  up,  over- 
shadowing every  other.  In  December,  1833,  the  American 
Anti-Slavery  Society  was  formed  in  Philadelphia.  Mr.  Goodell 
attended,  and  assisted  in  organizing  it.  In  1834,  the  "  Genius 
of  Temperance"  was  succeeded  by  the  "Emancipator,"  of 
which,  as  its  name  indicated,  opposition  to  slavery  was  the  lead- 
ing feature.  At  this  time  the  feeling  on  both  sides  of  the  slavery 
question  was  at  a  white  heat.  Abolitionists  were  persecuted, 
mobbed,  their  lives  threatened,  and  their  names  cast  out  as  evil. 

Mr.  Goodell  was  at  one  time  obliged  to  leave  his  home  in 
Brooklyn,  with  his  family,  and  seek  shelter  in  an  obscure  locality 
of  New  York,  till  the  fury  of  the  mob-oligarchy  had  spent 
itself ;  at  another  time  he  barely  escaped  the  grasp  of  an  in- 
coming mob,  who  clamorously  offered  a  price  for  his  head,  as 
they  put  to  rout  an  anti-slavery  meeting  being  quietly  held  in  a  pub- 
lic hall  in  New  York.  In  1836,  the  Legislatures  of  several  of 
the  Southern  States  sent  communications  to  the  northern  Leg- 
islatures, desiring  them  to  enact  laws,  prohibiting  the  formation 
of  anti-slavery  societies,  or  the  expression  of  anti-slavery  senti- 
ments, under  severe  penalties.  The  governor  of  Massachusetts^ 
in  his  inaugural  address,  took  occasion  to  severely  censure  the 
abolitionists,  intimating  that  they  were  guilty  of  an  offense 
punishable  at  common  law.  In  view  of  these  facts,  the  Massa- 
chusetts anti-slavery  society  requested  a  hearing  before  the 
Legislature,  which  was  granted.  Mr.  Goodell  was  one  of  the 
speakers  on  this  occasion,  and  the  red-hot-lava  of  his  indignation 
4 


26 

poured  forth  in  a  torrent  of  burning  logic  and  fiery  eloquence, 
under  which  the  Legislative  Committee,  to  whom  tin-  ((motion 
had  been  referred,  sat  uneasily,  till  he  eharaeteri/ed  the  com- 
munications of  the  Southern  States  as  "  fetters  for  northern  free- 
men;"' and  turning  to  the  chairman  of  the  committee,  demanded 
— "Sir:  Are  you  prepared  to  attempt  putting  them  on?"  when 
he  was  peremtorily  ordered  to  sit  down,  and  no  further  hearing 
\\  as  allowed.  Writing  almost  night  and  day,  Mr.  Goodell  was 
able,  three  days  later,  to  put  the  plea  of  the  abolitionists,  in  pam- 
phlet form,  into  the  hands  of  every  member  of  the  Legislature, 
and  to  circulate  it  broadcast  through  the  country.  The  Legis- 
lature took  no  action  on  the  subject. 

But  it  is  impossible,  in  these  few  brief  pages,  to  give  any 
adequate  idea  of  the  severe  labors  of  Mr.  Goodell  in  this  excit- 
ing moral  warfare.  We  must  pass  on. 

In  1836  he  was  strongly  urged,  by  the  Executive  Commit- 
tee of  the  N.  Y.  State  Anti-Slavery  Society,  and  personally  by 
Alvan  Stewart,  Beriah  Green,  and  Theodore  D.  Weld,  to  come 
to  Utica  and  take  charge  of  a  weekly  anti-slavery  paper  to  be 
called  "  The  Friend  of  Man."  This  offer  he  accepted,  and  edited 
the  "The  Friend  of  Man"  in  Utica  and  Whitesboro,  six  years. 
Here  also  he  issued  his  monthly  "Anti-Slavery  Lecturer"  for 
one  year,  and  commenced  his  "  Christian  Investigator"  for  dis- 
cussing the  religious  and  ecclesiastical  questions  involved  in  the 
moral  struggles  before  the  country.  During  these  years  he 
labored  by  voice  as  well  as  pen;  frequently  making  lecturing 
tours  through  New  York  and  the  New  England  States.  Nor 
were  his  labors  confined  to  the  enunciation  of  general  princi- 
ples. He  took  a  sympathetic  personal  interest  in  the  humblest 
being  who  needed  his  help.  His  home  was  not  only  open  to  the 
intellectual,  the  cultured,  and  the  philanthropic,  but  to  the  rag- 
ged fugitive  slave  hiding  from  his  pursuers;  or  the  robbed  and 
bewildered  traveler  without  money,  friends,  or  credit.  The  out- 
cast, the  suffering,  even  the  sinning,  but  repentant,  found  a  friend 
in  him. 

He  bore  a  prominent  part  in  the  formation  of  the  Liberty 
Party  in  Albany  in  the  spring  of  1840,  a  party  which  the  year  of 
its  formation  polled  7,000  votes  for  James  G.  Birney  for  Presi- 
dent, and  four  years  later  gave  the  same  candidate  60,000  votes, 
which  later  lowered  its  standard  and  became  the  "  Free-Soil," 
and  finally  the  Republican  Party. 

During  the  winter  of  1843,  he  lectured  on  Church  reform, 


27 

endeavoring  to  induce  churches  in  complicity  with  slavery  to 
take  action  against  it,  and  advocating  other  reforms  in  church 
organizations.  A  convention  was  held  in  Whitesboro  to  con- 
sider the  duty  of  the  churches  in  relation  to  slavery.  Two  del- 
egates attended  from  Honeoye,  Ontario  County,  who  brought 
with  them  a  cordial  and  pressing  invitation  to  Mr.  Goodell 
to  take  up  his  abode  with  them,  and  found  a  church  upon  the 
basis  of  the  principles  he  advocated.  This  he  decided  to  do,  and 
when  past  his  fiftieth  year  entered  upon  his  labors  as  a  minister, 
without  seeking  or  desiring  human  ordination,  and  rejecting  to 
the  last  all  titles  indicative  of  the  profession.  His  church  was 
organized  on  temperance,  anti-slavery,  and  church  union  princi- 
ples, and  was  composed  of  seceders  from  the  Presbyterian  and 
Methodist  churches  of  the  town  of  Richmond.  Later  it  re- 
ceived further  accessions  by  profession  of  faith.  Among  the 
distinctive  features  of  this  church  was  the  fact  that  its  members 
subscribed  to  no  creed  but  the  Bible,  and  that  the  afternoon  ser- 
vice was  devoted  to  a  discussion  of  the  subject  of  the  morning's 
discourse,  in  which  every  variety  of  honest  conviction  was  al- 
lowed free  expression,  and  which  proved  a  wonderful  stimulus  to 
thought.  In  these  meetings  there  was  "neither  bond  nor  free, 
male  nor  female."  As  an  example  of  the  character  of  these  dis- 
cussions might  be  mentioned  one  on  "  Christian  perfection," 
which  was  under  consideration  during  six  or  eight  successive 
Sabbaths,  and  was  divided  by  the  pastor  into  the  following  heads: 

1.  What  is  it  to  be  perfectly  holy  ?     Or,  what  is  the  stan- 
dard of  Christian  perfection  ?     Are  we  now  under  the  same  law 
that  Adam  was  under  before  the  fall  ?     The  moral  law  ?     The 
law  given  on  Sinai  ?     Or,  has  the  gospel  revealed  an  easier  law  ? 

2.  Are  men  commanded  to  be  perfect  ?     And  what  is  the 
import  of  that  command  ?     Does  the  law,  and  does  the  gospel, 
require  absolute  perfection  ? 

3.  Are  men  naturally  able  to  be  perfect  ?     Have  they  such 
an  ability  as  lays  a  foundation  for  the  obligation  to  be  perfect  ? 

4.  Has  the  gospel  made  adequate  provision  for  the  restora- 
tion of  men  to  a  state  of  perfection  ? 

5.  Ought  Christians  to  strive  after  absolute  perfection  ? 

6.  Has  perfection  ever  been  fully   attained  in   the    present 
life  ? 

Most  zealously  and  faithfully  did  William  Goodell  labor  for 
the  intellectual  and  spiritual  welfare  of  this  church.  He  aimed 
to  cultivate  a  high  type  of  piety,  and  an  enlarged  benevolence. 


28 

He  wrote  a  course  of  sermons  on  spirituality  and  the  higher  life. 
1  Ie  preached  a  course  also  to  children  and  youth.  During  this 
time  he  held  a  series  of  discussions  with  one  of  the  most  intel- 
lectual physicians  of  the  town,  on  the  medical  branch  of  the 
temperance  question,  which  called  out  large  and  delighted 
Audiences. 

Earnest  Christians  from  the  neighboring  towns  of  Livonia, 
Lima,  and  Bloomfield,  came  often  on  the  Sabbath  to  hear  him 
preach,  and  return  to  their  homes  refreshed  and  enobled  by  his 
ministrations.  Now  was  the  dream  of  his  life  rcali/ed  in  a  most 
unexpected  and  remarkable  manner.  Often,  in  the  earlier  years 
of  his  life,  had  he  exclaimed — "O  that  I  could  preach  the 
gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  as  it  ought  to  be  preached,  to  the  saving 
of  souls  ! "  "  If  I  were  but  ten  years  younger,"  he  said  at  thirty- 
five,  "I  would  commence  the  study  of  the  languages,  that  I  might 
read  the  Bible  in  the  original,  so  as  properly  to  discharge  the 
duties  of  the  ministry."  But  God  had  other  methods  of  di- 
cipline  by  which  to  fit  him  for  his  peculiar  work  ;  and  when  in 
His  providence  the  way  was  made  manifest,  he  accepted  it  with 
joy.  Never  had  he  seemed  so  happy  as  in  fulfilling  this  obliga- 
tion. His  growth  in  grace  at  this  period  was  so  evident  as  to  be 
a  subject  of  remark  in  his  family  circle.  Nor  was  the  influence 
of  his  ministry  less  beneficial  to  the  community  for  which  he 
labored.  A  member  of  his  church,  writing  years  afterwards,  said  : 
"  We  rejoice  in  the  goodness  of  our  Heavenly  Father  in  giving  to 
this  people  a  pastor  whose  life  was  so  devoted  to  carrying  out  the 
principles  of  truth  and  right;  his  influence  is  still  felt,  and  will 
be  for  a  long  time  to  come.  The  character  given  to  Zechariah 
and  Elizabeth,  might  truly  be  applied  to  William  Goodell  and 
his  wife.  "And  they  were  both  righteous  before  God,  walking 
in  all  the  commandments  and  ordinances  of  the  Lord  blameless." 
Another  adds:  "We  have  never  known  a  life  so  fully  con- 
formed to  the  Divine  requirements.  Well  do  we  remember  his 
energy  and  x.eal  in  laboring  for  the  spiritual  welfare  of  this  little 
church."  Not  an  individual  was  so  obscure  as  to  be  considered 
unworthy  of  his  Christian  regard  and  kind  consideration. 

He  was  peculiarly  adapted  to  conduct  funeral  services,  as  his 
tenderness,  and  exquisitely  sympathetic  nature  solemnixed  and 
deepened  the  impressions  of  religious  truth  left  upon  every  mind. 
These  ministrations  never  failed  to  touch  the  heart,  and  leave  an 
abiding  sense  of  eternal  realities.  This  peculiar  gift,  in  contrast 
with  his  stern  denunciations  of  sin,  combined  to  render  him  em- 
inently Christ  like. 


29 

During  the  greater  portion  of  this  time  he  continued  to  pub- 
lish his  Christian  Investigator.  The  idea  of  this  publication 
may  perhaps  be  better  conveyed  by  some  extracts  from  its  first 
number,  than  by  any  description.  The  first  article 'is  entitled 
"Acceptable  Worship;  its  Nature  and  Effects."  In  it  he  says: 
"To  worship  God  is  to  love  Him.  To  love  Him  is  to  love  moral,, 
beauty.  It  is  to  be  enamored  with  spotless  purity;  to  be  de- 
lighted with  infinite  excellence.  But  truly  to  love  virtue  is  to  be 
virtuous.  To  adore  purity  is  to  pant  after  it;  to  attain  it!  To  be 
delighted  with  moral  excellence  is  to  seize  upon  and  possess  it. 
What  a  man  loves  he  imitates.  What  a  man  loves  he  becomes. 
What  an  immortal  spirit  loves  he  himself  is,  and  determines  to  be. 
*  *  *  The  worshiper  of  God  becomes  God-like.  The  wor- 
shiper of  Christ  becomes  Christ-like.  *  *  *  Thus  it  is  that 
Christ  becomes  the  all-sufficient  Savior,  the  true  God  and  eternal 
life,  to  those  who  truly  adore  Him.  To  trust  in  Him,  to  have 
faith  in  Him,  to  adore  Him,  to  choose  Him  as  the  everlasting  por- 
tion of  the  soul — these  are  'only  different  modes  of  expi'essing 
the  same  thing.  To  worship  Him  is  to  behold  and  appreciate 
the  image  of  the  invisible  God.  It  is  to  be  changed  into  the  same 
image,  from  glory  to  glory,  even  as  by  the  Spirit  of  God." 

In  the  next  article,  entitled  "  The  Church  a  Reformatory 
Association,"  he  lays  down  as  a  foundation  principle,  "  that  the 
true  people  of  God  are  reformers,  and  that  the  true  church  of 
Jesus  Christ,  as  He  constituted  and  designed  it,  is  a  REFORMA- 
TORY CHURCH;  that  its  legitimate  business  is  warfare  without 
compromise,  against  every  possible  description  of  sin,  and  especi- 
ally against  the  prominent  sins  of  the  age  and  nation  where  its 
lot  is  cast,  and  to  the  influence  of  which  it  is  exposed;  a  warfare 
with  sin  in  the  outward  act  and  habit,  as  well  as  with  sin  in  the 
inward  motive,  affection  and  temper;  a  warfare  against  sin  in  the 
detail,  as  well  as  against  sin  in  the  aggregate;  sin  in  the  concrete 
as  well  as  sin  in  the  abstract."  It  concludes  with  this  paragraph: 
"Reformation  must  begin  at  the  house  of  God.  Until  THIS 
work  is  attempted,  all  our  other  attempts  at  reformation  will 
prove  futile."  Other  articles  discussed  practical  methods  of  carry- 
ing out  these  principles,  and  reviewed  objections.  In  writing  to  a 
friend  at  the  time  of  starting  the  "Investigator,"  he  said:  "What 
we  most  need  is  a  reformation  in  the  ministry  and  churches. 
To  this  object  the  new  paper  will  be  devoted.  This  department 
of  effort  has  been  neglected  too  long,  and  the  uncultivated  ground 
is  growing  up  with  rank  weeds.  Witness  the  anti-church  move- 


3° 

merits  in  Massachusetts  and  this  State!  What  else  could  be  ex- 
pei-tedr  If  the  church  will  not  carry  on  the  work  of  reform, 
\\liat  marvel  that  the  'world  should  attempt  it?  And  what  mar- 
\el  if  the  attempt  should  bear  marks  of  its  worldly  origin? 
Christianity  embodies  the  only  true'  principles  and  measures  <>f 
reform,  and  who  should  wield  these  hut  the  ministry  and  the 
churches  ~'. 

During  his  residence  in  Honeoye,  Mr.  Goodell  made  fre- 
quent short  lecturing  tours  through  neighboring  towns  and 
counties;  sometimes  speaking  every  evening  during  the  week- 
lie  occasionally  went  further,  attending  conventions  at  a  distance- 
In  1846  he  bore  a  prominent  part  in  forming  the  American  Mis- 
sionary Association,  at  Albany,  and  wrote  the  "Address"  issued 
by  the  Convention  there  assembled,  which  Win.  W.  Patton, 
D.  D.,  has  since  characterized  as  "  full  of  seed-thoughts  on  every 
part  of  the  Missionary  work."  It  was  about  this  time  that  he 
wrote  his  argument  on  the  unconstitutionally  of  slavery,  writing 
in  the  heat  of  summer,  in  feeble  health,  sitting  at  the  bedside  of 
a  sick  child,  whom  he  fanned,  or  soothed,  with  one  hand,  while 
he  wrote  with  the  other.  The  argument  has  been  pronounced 
unanswerable  by  some  of  the  best  minds  in  the  country.  For 
the  purpose  of  writing  on  the  legal  aspect  of  the  slavery  ques- 
tion, he  read  elementary  law  works  carefully,  till  he  became  so 
well  versed  in  the  science,  that  he  was  urged  to  apply  for  admis- 
sion to  the  bar,  being  assured  that  there  would  be  no  difficulty  in 
securing  admission.  But  he  cared  too  little  for  the  empty  honor 
to  make  the  attempt. 

It  was  during  his  residence  in  Honeoye  that  he  wrote  his 
"Democracy  of  Christianity,"  in  two  volumes;  his  history  of 
"  Slavery  and  Anti-Slavery,"  in  the  United  States,  and  his 
"  American  Slave  Code,"  which  described  the  tenor  and  effects 
of  the  slavery  legislation  of  the  South. 

In  1851  he  made  a  lecturing  tour  through  the  Western  States 
as  far  as  Chicago. 

In  1852  he  went  to  New  York  to  attend  to  the  publication 
of  his  books,  and  was  induced  by  friends  to  remain  there  perma- 
nently and  edit  an  anti-slavery  paper.  This  seemed  the  then 
most  needed  work,  as  the  aggressions  of  slavery,  by  the  repeal  of 
the  Missouri  compromise,  were  threatening  to  inundate  the  en- 
tire country.  He  edited  a  monthly  paper  entitled  the  "  Radical 
Abolitionist,"  in  which  he  advocated  the  ability,  duty,  and  neces- 
sity of  the  Federal  Government  to  abolish  slavery  in  the  South- 


31 

ern  States.  He  also  wrote  a  series  of  able  and  masterly  articles 
on  the  "  Legal  Tenure  of  Slavery,"  for  the  National  Era,  in 
which  he  showed  conclusively  that  slavery,  being  contrary  to  the 
common  law,  and  never  legalized  by  statutory  enactment  in  this 
country,  (though  statutes  had  been  enacted  recognizing  and  up- 
holding it )  was  absolutely  illegal,  as  well  as  unconstitutional. 
His  paper  was,  after  a  time,  enlarged,  converted  into  a  weekly, 
and  called  the  "Principia;"  Dr.  Geo.  B.  Cheever  being,  during 
a  portion  of  the  time,  his  associate  in  editorial  labor.  This  paper 
was  continued  during  the  war,  and  until  after  the  abolition  of 
slavery,  for  which  object  it  earnestly  and  unceasingly  labored. 
The  evening  before  the  issuing  of  the  Emancipation  Proclama- 
tion, Mr.  Goodell,  Dr.  Cheever,  and  Dr.  Brown  of  New  York 
were  with  President  Lincoln  until  midnight,  urging  the  measure 
upon  him,  lest,  as  some  feared,  his  resolution  might  falter.  They 
went  to  him  with  the  fervor  and  enthusiasm,  one  might  almost 
say  with  the  inspiration  of  the  Old  Testament  prophets;  and  a 
"  Thus  saith  the  Lord,"  rang  through  all  their  utterances,  till  the 
President  remarked,  with  the  dry  humor  for  which  he  was  dis- 
tinguished, "Really,  gentlemen,  this  is  the  first  time  that  I  ever 
had  the  honor  of  being  waited  on  by  a  delegation  from  the 
Lord ! "  Mr.  Goodell  quickly  responded,  "  President  Lincoln, 
believest  thou  the  prophets?  I  know  that  thou  believest!"  and 
proceeded  to  quote  passage  after  passage  of  the  Old  Testament 
denunciations  of  oppi'ession,  and  commands  to  let  the  oppressed 
go  free,  to  execute  justice,  aud  to  show  mercy.  He  afterwards 
had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  some  of  his  own  expressions  em- 
bodied in  the  Proclamation,  which  was  issued  the  next  day  at 
noon. 

During  his  residence  in  New  York,  or  rather  in  the  eastern 
district  of  Brooklyn,  where  his  home  was  situated,  he  was  a  mem- 
ber of  a  small  Congregational  Church  of  radical  anti-slavery 
and  temperance  principles,  of  which  Rev.  S.  S.  Jocelyn,  of  the 
American  Missionary  Association,  was  pastor.  He  preached  fre- 
quently, though  not  statedly,  in  this  and  other  pulpits;  atone 
time  supplying  the  pulpit  of  Dr.  Cheever.  during  his  absence. 
He  made  occasional  lecturing  tours  through  New  York  and  New 
England;  one  of  marked  success  through  Vermont,  in  1858, 
under  the  leadership  of  Governor  Fletcher  of  that  State. 

In  the  spring  of  1865  he  removed,  in  feeble  health,  to  the 
town  of  Lebanon,  in  Connecticut,  where  he  and  his  wife  boarded 
in  the  family  of  a  relative.  Here  the  fresh  country  air  and  farm 


living, together  with  the  quiet  and  freedom  from  care,  restored 
him  to  vigorous  health,  for  a  man  of  his  years.  He  had  ever 
heen  an  ardent  lover  of  nature,  and  greatly  enjoyed  his  long 
country  rambles,  gathering  berries  and  wild  flowers,  and  \ery 
probably  composing,  as  he  strolled  along,  the  article  which  he 
dashed  oil" so  rapidly  on  his  return.  For  he  did  not  drop  his  pen 
with  the  abolition  of  slavery,  but  wielded  it  vigorously  in  favor 
of  total  abstinence  and  prohibition,  woman  suffrage,  and  religion. 
During  his  five  vears  residence  in  Connecticut  he  was  a  frequent 
contributor  to  the  National  Temperance  Advocate,  and  many 
other  temperance  and  some  local  papers;  also  to  the  Hartford 
Religious  Herald,  the  "Panoplist"  of  Boston,  and  "Good  News" 
of  New  York. 

He  also  wrote  a  theological  work  entitled  "The  Highest 
Good ;"  re-wrote  and  enlarged  the  poem  of  his  youth,  "  The 
Christian  Warfare;"  and  commenced  a  work  on  the  "  Life  and 
teachings  of  Christ."  He  filled  the  pulpit  of  the  Congregational 
Church  at  Bozrahville  for  more  than  a  year,  and  was  a  frequent 
supply  in  other  pulpits.  He  attended  various  temperance  con- 
ventions at  easy  distances,  in  which  he  participated;  and  in  Sep- 
tember, 1869,  went  to  Chicago,  by  pressing  invitation  of  prom- 
inent temperance  workers,  where  he  aided  in  forming  the  National 
Prohibition  Party. 

In  June,  1870,  he  removed,  with  his  wife,  to  Janesville,  Wis- 
consin, where  his  daughter,  Mrs.  Frost,  resided;  and  where  he 
was  joined  in  the  fall  of  1871,  by  his  younger  daughter.  Here 
he  took  great  pleasure  in  the  society  of  his  daughters  and  grand- 
sons, and  entered  as  heartily  into  the  passing  events  of  the  city 
and  State,  as  in  his  younger  days  in  the  East;  frequently  attend- 
ing conventions  and  ministers'  meetings  in  different  localities. 
He  was  a  constant  attendant  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  morning  prayer 
meetings,  through  summer's  heat  and  winter's  cold,  frequently 
leading  the  meetings.  He  occasionally  supplied  the  Congrega- 
tional pulpit,  and  spoke  at  public  temperance  and  religious  meet- 
ings. Here  he  finished  his  voluminous  work  on  the  Life  and 
Teachings  of  Christ,  and  wrote  a  prize  essay  on  the  social  as- 
pect of  the  temperance  question.  He  wrote  for  the  local  papers, 
and  continued  his  contributions  to  temperance  and  religious  jour- 
nals; besides  contributing  occasional  articles  to  the  literary  clubs 
of  Janesville. 

On  the  4th  of  July,  1873,  he  and  his  faithful  and  devoted 
wife  celebrated  their  golden  wedding;  their  two  daughters  and 


33 

three  of  their  grandsons  being  present;  the  eldest  sending,  from 
Oberlin  College,  a  poem  for  the  occasion.  The  wedded  life  thus 
celebrated  had  been  one  of  rare  harmony  and  beauty.  Theirs 
was  one  of  the  few  marriages  in  which  the  illusion  of  first  love 
is  never  dispelled.  It  is  difficult  to  tell  which  was  most  devoted 
to  the  other.  The  marriage  was  one  in  which  were  recognized 
equal  rights  and  mutual  obligations,  and  the  harmony  was  a  har- 
mony of  liberty  and  not  of  subjugation.  The  movement  for  the 
equal  rights  of  woman  had  Mr.  Goodell's  hearty  sympathy.  It 
was  at  his  suggestion  that  his  youngest  daughter  studied  law, 
and  one  of  his  last  expressed  wishes  was  that  she  should  make 
the  profession  her  life-work. 

He  attended  the  re-union  of  Abolitionists  in  Chicago,  in 
June,  1874,  and  participated  in  the  proceedings;  but  came  home 
quite  fatigued  from  the  exertion  and  excitement,  and  never  left 
Janesville  again.  His  mind  remained  active  to  the  last,  and  he 
continued  to  write  for  the  press  to  within  a  week  of  his  death, 
being  engaged  in  a  series  of  articles  on  the  history  and  results  of 
the  Maine  law,  which  he  had  nearly  completed.  He  was  inter- 
ested in  every  new  reform,  and  ever  hopeful  for  the  future,  hav- 
ing a  firm  faith  in  the  coming  of  that  day  when  "  the  kingdoms 
of  this  world  shall  become  the  kingdoms  of  our  Lord  and  of  his 
Christ."  The  proper  treatment  of  the  Indian  and  the  Chinese, 
the  questions  of  prison  reform,  and  of  peace  and  international 
arbitration,  of  free- trade,  and  civil  service  reform,  all  received 
his  hearty  interest  and  sympathy. 

He  passed  gently  away,  like  a  tired  child  falling  asleep,  on 
the  evening  of  the  I4th  of  .February,  1878.  His  faithful  and  be- 
loved wife  followed  him  a  few  weeks  later.  They  left  two  child- 
ren, Mrs.  Maria  G.  Frost,  now  of  Michigan,  the  author  of  some 
Sunday-School  books  of  note,  and  Lavinia  Goodell,  attorney, 
Janesville,  Wis. ;  and  four  grand-children, the  sons  of  Mrs.  Frost, 
viz:  William  Goodell  Frost,  teacher  of  Greek  at  Oberlin  Col- 
lege, Ohio,  and  Lewis  C.,  Nelson  A.,  and  Willard  J.  Frost,  now 
with  their  parents  in  Michigan. 

Of  his  published  works,  the  principal  are:  "The  Democracy 
of  Christianity,"  in  two  volumes,  770  pages,  published  in  1852; 
"  .Slavery  and  Anti-Slavery,  a  History  of  the  Great  Struggle  in 
both  Hemispheres,"  600  pages,  1855;  "The  American  Slave 
Code,  in  Theory  and  Practice,"  400  pages,  1853.  Smaller  works 
are:  "Views  of  American  Constitutional  Law  in  its  bearings 
upon  American  Slavery,"  a  good  sized  pamphlet  of  over  150 

5 


34 

pages,  line  print,  published  in  1^15;  "Our  National  Charters, 
embracing  the  I'Ydcral  Constitution,  the  Articles  of  Confedcra- 
tion,  tlu-  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  the  Articles  of  Asso- 
ciation, with  notes  .showing  their  hearing  on  the  question  of 
Slavery,  iS^;  "American  Slavery  a  foniiidahle  ohstacle  to  the 
conversion  of  tin-  World,"  a  pri/e  pamphlet  of  2|  pages,  pub- 
lished  by  the  American  and  Foreign  Anti-Slav -ery  Socictv,  in 
1854;  "The  Rights  and  Wrongs  of  Klx.de  Island,"  i&p;  "The 
Kansas  Struggle  of  lS^6  in  Congress  and  in  the  Presidential 
Campaign,  with  Suggestions  for  the  Future,"  1857;  "Slavery 
Limitation  Abandoned,  in  Theory  and  Practice,  by  the-  Defend- 
ers of  the  Crittenden— Lecomption  Compromise,"  i8yS. 

He  left  unpublished  his  "  Life  and  Teachings  of  Christ," 
"  The  Highest  Good,"  and  "  The  Christian  Warfare,"  a  poem, 
besides  several  minor  poems  and  fragments.  His  earlv  literary 
taste  was  for  poetry,  but  his  earnest  battles  with  evil  left  him 
little  leisure  to  indulge  and  cultivate  this  taste.  Of  his  unpub- 
lished poems  we  give  a  few.  The  first  bears  no  date,  but  is 
written  on  paper  yellow  and  crumbling  with  age,  and  in  the 
firm,  clear  hand  of  youth. 

"THE    MINSTREL. 

"  He  had  a  lyre,  once,  and  its  tones  were  sweet 

As  evening's  passing  breath,  yet  strangely  wild; 
And  oft  as  morn  the  dewy  hills  did  greet, 
Or  evening  in  the  valleys  lingered  mild, 

"  And  from  the  joyous  east  the  moonbeam  smiled, 

He  touched  in  secret,  soft,  the  magic  strings; 
And  as  the  sound  his  youthful  soul  beguiled, 
Swift  Fancy  bore  him  on  her  airy  wings. 

"  And  then  he  dreamed  of  strange,  unnatural  things, 
Of  friendships  that  outrode  misfortune's  storms; 
Of  worth  and  merit  in  the  courts  of  kings ; 
Of  noble  souls  that  dwelt  in  manly  forms. 

"  Of  honesty  he  dreamed,  that  gathered  gold ; 

Of  thrifty  villainy  that  was  despised ; 
Of  patriots  honored,  when  grown  poor  and  old ; 
Of  sages  by  their  country  known  and  prized. 

"  Of  Justice,  too,  he  dreamed,  that  ruled  the  State, 

Of  laws  that  bound  th'  oppressor — not  th'  oppressed ; 
Of  innocence  protected  by  the  great; 

Of  genius  with  the  smiles  of  Fortune  blessed. 


35 

"  Of  hopes,  he  dreamed,  that  warmed  the  guileless  breast, 

Nor  gleam'd  their  hapless  votaries  to  enthrall ; 
Of  pleasures  that  composed  the  heart  to  rest, 
Nor  tinged  the  cup  of  life  with  bitter  gall. 

"Ah!  idle  dreams!  illusive — transient — all! 

When  years  had  waked  him  into  real  life, 
Listless  he  heard  Ambition's  rousing  call, 

And  rather  shunned  than  sought  the  mad'ning  strife. 

"  'And  thou,  false  lyre,'  he  said, '  whose  siren  sound 
Inspired  the  hopes  that  hath  my  bosom  wrung, 
Sink,  with  thine  own  fallen  phantoms  to  the  ground, 
And  there  forever  lie  thy  chords  unstrung!' 


"  Years  rolled — the  breath  of  heaven  was  in  that  lyre, 

Though  doomed  neglected  in  the  dust  to  sleep; 
While  from  the  minstrel's  heart  an  unblown  fire 
Kindled  his  blood-shot  eye  that  could   not  weep. 

"  Calm  with  the  apathy  of  hopeless  woe, 

A  seeming  stoic,  from  despair  suppressed 
He  stood;  like  Heckla,  crowned  with  ice  and  snow, 
Mocking  the  burning  lava  in  her  breast." 

Although  he  was  of  a  rarely  sensitive  and  refined  nature,  and 
had  to  contend  with  much  that  was  coarse,  hard  and  bitter,  this 
is  the  only  writing  he  has  left  in  which  there  is  a  tinge  of  cyni- 
cism ;  and  it  is  one  which,  so  far  as  the  writer  knows,  he  never 
published,  never  alluded  to,  and  never  showed  to  any  one.  Since 
it  ranks  amongst  the  finest  of  his  poems  in  poetic  merit,  he  prob- 
ably withheld  it  as  not  breathing  the  Christian  hope  and  faith 
which  characterize  most  of  his  writings.  Of  different  tone  is  the 
following,  marked  1853. 

"MY   THREE-SCORE   YEARS. 

"  My  three-score  years !  my  three-score  years ! 

Ah!  whither  have  ye  fled? 
'Mid  sunny  smiles,  and  rain-drop  tears, 
How  swiftly  have  ye  sped ! 

"  O'er  graves  of  friends  I  seem  to  tread, 

Their  forms  before  me  rise; 
I  hear  their  voices  'round  my  head, 
When  darkness  seals  my  eyes. 


36 

"The  winds  that  kiss  the  ancient  trees, 

And  lift  my  whiten'd  hair, 
The  music  of  the  evening  breeze, 
The  morning's  balmy  air, 

"  Or  winters  wild,  or  summers  fair, 

Or  sleet  or  whirlwind  blast, 
Alike  the  flight  of  years  declare, 
Pains— pleasures — conflicts,  past. 

"  My  childhood's  glee,  my  youth's  fond  plan, 

My  manhood's  ardent  chase, 
The  labors  of  my  narrow  span 
Before  me  rise  apace, 

"  To  tell  me  of  my  lengthened  race, 

My  struggle  almost  o'er, 
The  hour  when  I  must  yield  my  place, 
Nor  plan,  nor  purpose  more. 

"  To  Thee,  O  God,  the  deep  resolve— 

The  prayer,  the  midnight  sigh 
Was  breathed,  that  bade  my  years  revolve 
To  aims  and  efforts  high. 

"  To  break  Oppression's  iron  chain, 
And  Pleasure's  madd'ning  bowl, 
Imbruted  man  to  raise  again 
To  manliness  of  soul. 

"  With  holy  Law's  benign  control, 

The  violent  to  bind ; 
From  Error's  bond  to  loose  the  soul, 
To  free  the  imprisoned  mind. 

"  TAese,  that  my  early  thoughts  designed, 

My  labors  still  engage, 
A  lengthen'd  chain  that  serves  to  bind 
My  youth  and  hoary  age. 

"  The  wint'ry  blasts  that  round  me  rage, 

And  life's  warm  current  chill, 
My  early  ardor  scarce  assuage 
My  mission  to  fulfill. 

"  Father !  submissive  to  Thy  will, 

I  wait  Thy  high  behest; 
With  feeble  powers  to  labor  still, 
Or  lay  me  down  to  rest. 

"  But,  O !  be  mine  the  portion,  blest,    ' 

Rich  fruits  of  toil  to  see! 
Some  sunlit  spot,  no  more  oppress'd, 
Restor'd  to  »»«*,  and  THEE! 


"The  leper  cleans'd — the  slave  set  free — 

And  Babel's  tott'ring  towers ; 
Be  these  the  scenes  reserv'd  for  me 
In  life's  declining  hours: 

"  Or,  on  some  Pisgah's  lofty  height, 

The  promis'd  land  lo  view, 
With  Zion's  pearly  gates  in  sight, 
And  glories  rich  and  new. 

"  Not  in  my  strength,  O  Lord,  but  Thine, 

The  warfare  was  begun, 
Not  on  my  brow,  but  at  Thy  shrine, 
Be  all  the  garlands  won. 

"  No  merit,  when  my  work  is  done, 

Nor  honor  would  I  claim ; 
But  plead  for  mercy,  through  Thy  Son, 
And  pardon  in  His  name." 

We  give  entire  a  poem  written  by  him  twenty  years  later, 
in  1873,  on  the  5oth  anniversary  of  the  marriage  of  intimate 
friends  and  family  relatives,  whose  golden  wedding  occurred 
within  a  few  months  of  his  own. 

POEM, 

DEDICATED   TO 

JOHN  W.  AND  MIRA  C.  HILL, 

ON   THE   CELEBRATION    OF  THEIR 

GOLDEN     WEDDING, 

A  t  Green  Point,  Sept.  30,  1813. 


"  Friends  and  kindred,  well  beloved, 

'In  the  days  of  Auld  Lang  Syne,' 
Oft  your  friendship  have  we  proved, 
Often  seen  your  good  works  shine. 
With  congratulations  sweet, 
You,  once  more,  we  gladly  greet. 


'  Fifty  years  have  rolled  away, 
Since  your  youthful  nuptial  day; 
Still  we  seem  to  see  you  stand, 
Heart  in  heart,  and  hand  in  hand, 
Each  to  each  in  fealty  true, 
Yielding  mutual  service  due. 


38 

"  Fifty  years  of  wedded  life, 
Without  jealousy  or  strife, 
In  a  feverish,  fickle  age, 
When  divorces  are  the  rage. 

"While  foul  Treason's  traitorous  band 
Threatened  severance  of  the  land, 
Loyal  still  ye  steadfast  stood, 
To  your  own  and  country's  good. 
Truthful  fealty,  well  ye  saw, 
Links  true  Liberty  with  Law; 
And  the  love  that's  pure  and  free 
Lives  through  all  eternity. 

"  While  King  Alcohol  bears  sway 
O'er  the  statesmen  of  to-day, 
Scattering  wide  with  murderous  hand, 
Maddening  poisons  through  the  land, 
Severing  holiest  marriage  ties, 
And  the  arm  of  Law  defies, 
Yours',  dear  friends,,  the  work  has  been 
To  confront  this  '  Man  of  Sin.' 
Would  all  Christians  do  the  same, 
Soon  would  cease  this  crime  and  shame: 
Truth  should  reign, — her  sway  be  owned, - 
Tyrant  Alcohol  dethroned. 

"Fifty  years!  with  record  bright, 
Era  of  increasing  light, 
Rushing  on  with  light'ning  speed — 
Helps  for  many  a  human  need. 
Triumphs  new,  for  rights  of  man  ; 
Telegraphs,  the  world  to  span ; 
Contests  sharp  of  Right  with  Wrong  ; 
Weak  ones  struggling  with  the  strong. 
Age  of  action,  age  of  thought, 
Age  when  noble  deeds  are  wrought, 
Age  when  bubbles  come  to  naught, 
Age  with  nameless  dangers  fraught, 
Age  of  wonders — your's  and  our's, 
Well  it  tasked  our  feeble  powers, 
While  together  we  have  stood, 
Laboring  for  our  Countr\'s  good. 
Age,  instructive  to  review, 
Gathering  truths  both  old  and  new, 
Truths  from  falsehoods  to  disixrn, 
Those  to  cherish,  these  to  spurn. 

"Fifty  years!    Alas!   how  few 
Now  remain,  whom  onee  we  knew. 


39 


Other  actors  tread  the  stage, 

Other  cares  their  thoughts  engage ; 

Yet  the  world's  affairs  go  on, 

Missing  not  the  millions  gone. 

Light  with  darkness  still  contends, 

Christ  His  Kingdom  still  extends; 

Changes  great  our  eves  have  seen, 

Greater  change  those  changes  mean. 

Works  of  Providence,  begun, 

Die  not  with  our  setting  sun. 

Other  laborers  throng  the  field ; 

Seed  we've  sown  their  harvests  yield, 

Even  as  seed  our  sires  had  sown, 

For  our  hands  have  harvests  grown. 

Implements,  adapted  well, 

Future  uses  may  foretell; 

Ploughs,  well-shaped  to  turn  the  soil, 

Antedate  the  tiller's  toil; 

Free  sojourn — free  thought — free  speech, 

Steam  proclaims,  and  light'nings  preach. 

Ne'er  as  now,  since  time  began, 

Man  could  converse  hold  with  man. 

Words  that  burn,  and  thoughts  that  soar, 

Glide  beneath  old  Ocean's  roar; 

Famished  nations  questions  send 

To  the  earth's  remotest  end; 

Instant  answers  promise  bread, — 

'Speedily  shall  ye  be  fed.' 

Commerce,  science,  truths  divine, 

Round  the  globe  their  cords  entwine; 

Distance  vanishes — a  dream, 

Realms  remote  our  neighbors  seem; 

Once  neglected,  but  no  more, 

Lo!  they  crowd  our  opened  door, 

Light  and  knowledge  to  implore. 

"  Fifty  years  are  gone  and  past, 
Dying  on  the  autumnal  blast; 
Wondrous  years  of  thought  and  strife, — 
Nations  struggling  into  life, 
Slavery  banished  in  a  day, 
Heathen  idols  cast  away, 
Isles  of  the  Pacific  Sea, 
Won,  O,  Prince  of  Peace,  for  Thee. 

"  Fifty  years  have  run  their  race ; 
Other  fifty  claim  their  place, 
To  complete  what  these  began, 
For  the  rising  race  of  man. 


4° 

What  their  mighty  deeds  shall  be, 
A-i^  that  succeed  shall  see  : 
Yet  the  vhadims  of  the  Past 
Well  the  Future  might  foreeast. 
Backward  roll  not  Nature's  wheels, 
Onward  strides  their  task  reveals; 
I'ast  and  Present,  well  combined, 
Form  the  warp  that  Heaven  designed 
For  the  woof  of  future  years, 
'Till  the  finished  web  appears. 
Revolutions  once  begun 
Show  their  course  as  rivers  run. 

"  Thus  interpreted,  our  Age 
Promise  gives  of  widening  gauge. 
While  the  wheels  of  Progress  roll 
Forward  to  their  destined  goal, 
Mark  we  not  the  "rights  of  man," 
Widened  from  a  narrow  span? 
For  companionship  designed, 
Say,  shall  Woman  wait  behind? 
While  he  reigns  upon  the  throne, 
'  Good  '  were  it  '  to  be  alone? ' 
Through  his  empire  must  he  ride, 
Without  woman  at  his  side? 
Rising  with  him  to  her  'sphere,' 
Shall  she  not  herself  appear? 
Queenly  help  for  kingly  man ! 
Was  not  this  bright  Eden's  plan? 
Is  not  now  the  curse  removed, — 
Promised  boon,  by  Heaven  approved,- 
Since  upon  the  Serpent's  head 
Woman's  seed  has  come  to  tread  ? 

"  Friends  beloved,  your  loving  life, 
Free  from  tyranny  and  strife, 
Lively  illustrations  lend 
To  the  thougets  we  here  have  penn'd. 
Equal  burdens,  equal  cares, 
Mutual  counsels,  aids  and  prayers, 
Equal  interests,  duties,  rights, 
Each  with  each  in  love  unites. 
Thus  forever  may  it  be, 
Now  and  in  Eternity. 
On -your  fiftieth  nuptial  day, 
Now,  as  ever,  thus  we  pray. 


WILLIAM    GOODELL, 

Janesville,  Wis.,  Sejt.  20,  1873, 


41 

His  funeral  took  place  from  the  Congregational  Church  ot 
Janesville,  Wis.,  of  which  he  was  a  member,  on  Sabbath  after- 
noon, Feb.  17,  1878,  and  was  largely  attended  by  his  friends  both 
in  Janesville  and  from  a  distance.  From  the  discourse  of  the  pas- 
tor, Rev.  T.  P.  Sawin,  on  the  occasion,  we  give  some  extracts: 

"  I  am  speaking  within  bounds  when  I  say  that  the  length 
of  his  service  in  the  cause  of  temperance  and  anti-slavery  exceeds 
that  of  any  living  man,  and  that  its  influence  and  power  rank 
second  with  none.  I  am  aware  of  names  which  have  shone  with 
greater  brilliancy,  and  have  had  a  wider  fame;  but  I  know  of 
none  that  can  point  to  greater  or  more  enduring  results.  *  *  * 

"Above  all  things,  he  trusted  in  God.  Herein  lies  the  secret 
of  his  ministerial  success.  That  little  church  in  Honeoye,  N. 
Y.,  to  which  he  preached,  and  for  which  he  labored  eight  suc- 
cessive years,  was  clearly  built  upon  the  foundation  of  the  Pro- 
phets and  Apostles,  Jesus  Christ  being  the  chief  corner  stone. 
It  was  independent  as  the  church  at  Corinth,  or  the  one  in 
Galatia  or  Ephesus.  He  received  no  human  ordination,  or 
earthly  imposition  of  hands.  Like  Paul,  he  was  called  to  be  an 
apostle,  '  not  of  men,  neither  by  man,  but  by  Jesus  Christ,  and 
God  the  Father.'  He  had  such  implicit  faith  in  the  Bible,  as 
God's  word,  such  magnificent  trust  in  its  wholeness,  and  in  its 
sufticiencv,  that  it  alone  was  his  creed;  and  it  alone  the  creed  of 
his  church.  Other  churches,  at  that  time,  with  their  creeds  and 
confessions,  did  not  keep  from  their  communion  slave-holders 
and  wine-bibbers;  yet  that  Independent  Reform  Church,  stand- 
ing alone  and  exclusively  on  the  revealed  Word,  never  once  fel- 
lowshipped  the  man  who  sold  his  brother  men  either  to  the 
bondage  of  unrequited  toil,  or  the  slavery  of  strong  drink. 

"  For  himself  and  for  his  church,  he  believed  in  freedom  of 
thought  and  freedom  of  speech.  When  the  morning  sermon 
was  over,  the  people  gathered  in  the  afternoon,  took  up  the 
theme,  and  freely  discussed  it.  So  they  grew  strong  in  the  faith, 
and  equipped  themselves  with  the  weapons  of  warfare  in  the 
fight  against  sin.  In  the  meantime  he  crowded  his  hours  with 
work.  The  King's  call  was  urgent,  and  he  could  not  delay  or 
loiter.  From  the  editorial  chair,  he  went  to  the  lecture  platform 
and  the  preacher's  desk.  Without  a  college  training,  he  became 
skilled  in  the  arts  of  the  dialectician,  and  practiced  in  all  the  de- 
vices of  logic.  Unlearned  in  professional  schools,  he  mastered 
the  sciences  of  law  and  theology.  His  'American  Slave  Code' 
was  re-published  in  England;  and  'Our  National  Charters'  pre- 
6 


43 

seated  an  argument  which Ottf  best  constitutional  lawyers  treated 
with  the  respect  due  to  a  'foeman  worthy  of  their  steel;'  while 
his  'Democracy  of  Christianity'  stands  as  a  monument  not  only 
of  his  genius  as  a  critical  theologian,  but  it  exhibits  his  broad 
catholic  spirit,  and  his  unwavering  adhesion  to  that  thorough- 
going evangelical  Christianity  which  is  first  pure,  then  peaceable, 
but  at  all  times  sound,  and  clear,  and  strong. 

"As  an  illustration  of  his  faith  in  the  purposes  of  God,  and 
the  constant  spirit  in  which  he  labored,  take  this  extract  from  the 
work  I  have  just  mentioned.  The  theme  of  the  chapter  is  the 
Scripture  prophecies. 

"'Here,  then,'  he  says, '  is  matter  and  occasion  of  devout  grat- 
itude, profound  adoration,  fraternal  and  filial  affection,  unshaken 
confidence,  sublime  faith,  unwearied  endeavor,  patient  endurance 
triumphant  anticipation,  and  serene  hope.  The  statesman,  the 
patriot,  the  philanthrophist,  the  moralist,  the  reformer,  the  ex- 
plorer of  nature,  the  investigator  of  arts,  the  teacher  of  science, 
the  poet,  the  logician,  these,  as  well  as  the  theologian,  the  mis- 
sionary, the  preacher  of  the  gospel,  if  they  rightly  understand 
themselves,  and  each  other,  and  the  work  to  which  they  are 
called,  may  find  themselves  co-operating,  each  in  his  own  chosen 
field  of  labor,  for  the  ultimate  restoration  of  the  species  to  the 
high  station  in  reserve  for  them  under  the  moral  and  providen- 
tial government  of  God,  and  in  fulfillment  of  His  purposes  of 
mercy  revealed  in  the  gospel  of  His  Son  Jesus  Christ.  And  this 
must  of  necessity  involve  the  practical  recognition  of  their  com- 
mon brotherhood,  and  the  security  of  their  inherent  and  inalien- 
able rights.  Christianity  can  be  satisfied  with  nothing  less ; 
Democracy  can  demand  nothing  more.  The  single  assurance 
that  the  Saviour  shall  "see  of  the  travail  of  his  soul,  and  shall  be 
satisfied,"  if  we  rightly  understand  its  wide  scope  and  bearing, 
may  suffice  to  relieve  us  of  doubts  in  respect  to  the  enterprise  in 
which  those  are  engaged  who  labor  wisely  for  the  emancipation 
of  humanity,  and  the  overthrow  of  despotic  power.  It  is  a 
democratic  Christianity,  it  is  a  Christian  democracy,  that  must 
emancipate  and  save  men.  Mere  names  and  forms,  cither  of 
Christianity  or  of  democracy,  will  avail  nothing.  When  t  la- 
precepts  of  Christianity  are  reduced  to  practice,  when  its  princi- 
ples are  honored,  when  its  living  spirit  inspires  men,  then  the 
nations  will  be  truly  and  permanently  disenthralled.  If  the  Son 
of  Man  make  them  free,  they  shall  be  free  indeed.' 

"  This  is  strong  writing;  it  is  forcible;  it  is  calm.    But  did  he 


43 

dream,  when  he  wrote  it,  that  emancipation  was  hardly  a  dozen 
years  away?  I  know  not;  but  I  do  know  that  he  fully  believed 
that  slavery  was  doomed,  and  that  the  day-star  of  freedom  had 
already  arisen. 

"1  have  scarcely  spoken  of  his  personal  traits;  his  strong 
and  persevering  will;  his  indomitable  and  unflinching  purposes, 
his  well  defined  convictions,  his  large  charity,  in  word  and  deed 
and  thought,  and  his  wonderful  tenderness,  that  made  him  so 
thoroughly  loved  and  so  truly  reverenced  in  his  family,  and  in 
the  communities  where  he  has  dwelt.  These  things  add  to  the 
sweetness  and  charm  of  his  memory,  more  even  than  the  great 
things  he  has  accomplished.  Yet  they  were  the  King's  thread 
that  ran  through  all  his  life,  and  characterized  all  his  actions.  He 
thought  not  of  himself,  but  of  others;  and  when  one  of  his 
great  objects  in  life  came  to  a  successful  consummation,  then  he 
turned  to  another  with  unflagging  zeal  and  industry.  It  is  chiefly 
as  a  laborer  in  the  cause  of  temperance  that  we  have  known  him; 
though  there  are  those  here  who  have  been  his  fellow  acquaint- 
ances and  helpers  for  half  a  century;  some  even  have  shared 
with  him  in  the  perils  of  his  work.  When,  however,  the  Eman- 
cipation Proclamation,  and  the  Constitutional  amendments  guar- 
anteeing its  provisions  had  become  history,  he  turned  all  the 
force  of  his  intellect  and  heart  into  the  work  of  saving  men  from 
the  intoxicating  cup.  The  story  of  that  work  cannot  be  told 
here.  Time  would  fail  me  to  recount  his  Herculean  labors  in 
thi*  direction;  but  almost  the  last  words  of  his  life  were  a  regret 
that  he  had  not  been  able  to  finish  a  series  of  articles  on  this 
subject.  But  what  he  has  done  has  been  well  done,  and  his  re- 
ward will  be  commensurate  with  his  intention. 

"  Yet  I  must  not  fail  to  notice  distinctly  what  I  have  implied 
all  the  way  through,  that  he  was  emphatically  a  Christian  man. 
We  have  known  him  as  such,  and  heartily  bear  witness  to  his 
own  declaration  made  in  his  eighty-third  year:  '  My  religious, 
theological,  and  ethical  views  remain  substantially  what  they 
were  at  the  beginning,  distinctly  evangelical,  intensified  rather 
than  diluted  or  modified.  J^kesc,  as  foundation  principles,  have 
been  the  inspiration  and  guide  of  my  activities  and  measures,  in 
opposition  to  antagonizing  influences  of  worldly  utilitarian  ex- 
pediency, and  consequent  compromise  of  moral  right.  My  life- 
long experiences  have  illustrated  the  efficacy  of  prayer,  as  an 
instrumentality  of  accomplishment;  all  skeptical  doubts,  objec- 
tions, and  incredulity  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding.' 


44 

"  This,  then,  is  the  crowning  glory  of  the  man,  that  in  all 
things  he  based  his  actions  on  Christian  principles;  and  after 
eighty  years  of  trial,  in  the  full  vigor  of  his  manhood,  with  a 
conscience  unsullied  by  falsehood,  and  with  the  certain  knowl- 
edge that  he  was  soon  going  hence,  he  declared  that  the  convic- 
tions of  his  youth  were  the  strength  of  his  manhood,  and  the 
stay  of  his  old  age.  Doubtless  he  saw  as  much,  and  had  as 
much  reason  for  distrusting  the  progress  of  good  as  any  man, 
yet  such  was  his  confidence  in  God  as  a  Soverign  Ruler,  and 
such  his  belief  in  the  omnipotence  of  righteousness,  that  he  fully 
trusted  to  its  victory  in  this  world.  He  had  no  patience  with 
those  who  go  about  prophecying  ruin,  ruin  and  devastation,  and 
catastrophic  destructions;  but  he  looked  forward  and  abroad  over 
the  world,  and  shared  the  larger  hope  that  '  good  should  full,  at 
last  to  all ;'  and  that  on  this  earth,  the  kingdom  which  is  not  of 
this  world  should  be  fully  and  triumphantly  set  up  within  it,  and 
Jesus  should  reign,  not  by  any  temporal  exhibition  of  authority, 
but  by  the  unfleeting  and  immortal  authority  of  an  inward  rule 
in  the  hearts  of  all  men. 

"  But  what  more  should  I  say  on  an  occasion  like  this  ? 
Words  would  fail  me,  were  they  winged  with  the  eloquence  of 
angels.  Insufficient  and  unsatisfactory  are  all  utterances  made  in 
behalf  of  the  memory  of  the  good.  But  I  have  dared  to  come 
up  on  the  high  plane  of  retrospect,  feeling  and  believing  that  in 
the  midst  of  this  somewhat  triumphant  and  joyous  strain  you 
would  clearly  detect  the  consolation  of  God,  wherewith  He 
would  console  you  in  your  suffering. 

"  '  Uplifted  high,  in  heart  and  hope,  are  we, 
Until  we  doubt  not  that  for  one  so  true 
Still  nobler  work  remains  for  him  to  do.' 

"  Bear  now  his  body  away  to  its  last  resting  place,  there  to 
remain  till  the  heavens  be  no  more.  His  spirit  already  mingles 
with  the  brave  and  good  of  all  ages ;  for  he  has  gone  over  to 
the  majority.  Let  the  bells  toll  out  their  solemn  farewell,  while 
we  march  on  to  the  grave  that  bears  no  token  of  victory.  In  our 
hearts  there  come  the  words,  slightly  changed,  but  fitly  spoken, 
concerning  one  of  England's  worthies,  and  which  are  no  less 
fitting  for  him. 

"  '  His  voice  is  silent  in  our  house  and  church 
Forever,  and,  whatever  tempests  lower, 
Forever  silent ;  even  if  they  broke 
In  thunder,  silent ;  yet  remember  all 
He  spoke  among  you,  and  the  man  who  spoke, 


45 

Who  never  sold  the  truth  to  serve  the  hour, 
Nor  faltered  with  the  eternal  God  for  power; 
Whose  life  was  work,  whose  language  rife 
With  rugged  maxims  hewn  from  life  ; 
Whose  eighty  winters  freeze  with  one  rebuke 
All  great  self-seekers  trampling  on  the  Right. 
Not  once  or  twice  in  our  far-famed  history 
The  path  of  duty  was  the  way  to  glory. 
He  that  ever  following  her  commands, 
On,  with  toil  of  heart,  and  knees  and  hands 
Thro"  the  long  gorge  to  the  far  light  has  won 
His  path  upward,  and  prevailed, 
Shall  find  the  toppling  crags  of  Duty  scaled, 
Are  close  upon  the  shining  table  lands 
To  which  our  God  Himself  is  moon  and  sun. 
Such  was  he  ;  his  work  is  done  ;  , 

He  is  gone,  who  seemed  so  great ; 
Gone  ;  but  nothing  can  bereave  him 
Of  the  force  he  made  his  own 
Being  here — and  we  believe  him 
Something  far  advanced  in  state  ; 
And  that  he  wears  a  truer  crown, 
Than  any  wealth  that  man  can  weave  him. 
But  speak  no  more  of  his  renown — 
Lay  your  earthly  fancies  down- 
God  accept  him  ;  Christ  receive  him.'  " 

We  cannot  close  this  memorial  without  making  brief  men- 
tion of  a  fondly  cherished  project  of  its  subject,  which  he  left 
unfulfilled.  It  has  been  remarked  that  poetry  was  his  favorite 
department  of  literature,  and  one  which  he  would  fain  have  fol- 
lowed had  not  the  exigencies  of  the  times  forced  him  to  choose 
whether  he  would  live  poetry  rather  than  -write  it.  He  possessed, 
in  a  remarkable  degree,  that  unusual  combination  of  qualities,  a 
highly  poetic  nature,  combined  with  a  strictly,  even  severely 
logical  cast  of  mind.  Of  the  latter,  his  contemporaries  were 
well  aware;  the  former  was  hidden  from  most  of  them.  Yet  so. 
intensely  did  it  struggle  to  assert  itself,  that  .during  the  brief  in- 
tervals which  he  could  snatch  from  his  busy,  active  warfare 
with  evil,  during  middle  life,  he  projected  and  commenced  to 
write  an  epic  poem,  entitled,  "Redemption;  or  Human  Progress; 
a  Song  of  the  Ages."  He  sketched  a  "plan"  of  this,  from  which 
we  quote  enough  to  convey  his  leading  idea. 

"  An  epic  or  heroic  poem  celebrates  an  arduous  enterprise, 
terminating  in  a  memorable  event,  and  accomplished  by  an  illus- 
trious hero.  The  more  magnificent  the  enterprise,  the  greater 
the  obstacles  surmounted,  the  more  glorious  the  consummation, 
the  more  illustrious  and  mighty  the  hero,  the  more  grand  will  be 
the  plan  or  design  of  the  epic  by  which  these  are  celebrated. 

"  In   all  these  particulars   there  is  no  existing  or  conceivable 


46 

epic,  or  plan  or  design  of  an  epic,  that  compares  with  that  of  an 
epic  which  should  celebrate  the  work  of  Human  Redemption, 
and  the  process  of  human  recovery,  past,  present,  and  future, 
to  the  final  consummation  of  all  things.  No  enterprise  can  he 
so  magnificent;  no  event  or  consummation  so  glorious;  no  hero 
comparable  to  the  Author  and  Finisher — the  Captain  of  human 
salvation. 

"That  exposition  of  the  Christian  theology  which  makes 
most  of  this  work  of  Redemption,  which  presents  the  greatest 
obstacles  to  its  accomplishment,  in  the  character  of  man,  and  in 
the  nature  of  the  Divine  government,  which  at  the  same  time 
makes  most  of  the  original  dignity  of  human  nature,  and  its 
capacities  of  affinity  to  Deity,  which  makes  most  of  the  solemnity 
of  human  conduct,  responsibility,  and  destiny,  which  presents 
the  strongest  contrasts  of  human  character  and  destiny,  which 
most  highly  exalts  the  Messiah,  and  therefore  most  magnifies  the 
condescension  of  His  humiliation — that  exposition  of  Christian- 
ity is  best  adapted  to  the  purpose  of  a  sublime  epic.  And  the 
very  consideration  that  this  is  so,  furnishes  a  presumptive  evidence 
that  that  exposition  is  the  legitimate  and  true  one.  For  it  were 
absurd  and  impious  to  suppose  that  the  human  imagination  is 
capable  of  conceiving  a  more  sublime  and  interesting  scheme  of 
the  universe,  and  of  the  Divine  operations,  than  that  which  al- 
ready exists,  and  of  which  God  is  the  Subject  and  Author. 

"Compare  the  gods  of  heathenism  with  Jehovah;  and  com- 
pare the  wars  and  voyages  of  Ulysses,  Hector,  yEneas,  and  the 
founding  of  the  Roman  Empire,  after  the  burning  of  Troy,  with 
the  plan  of  Divine  and  human  operations  involved  in  the  work 
of  Redemption.  Compare  the  heroes  of  those  heathen  wars 
with  the  Messiah,  and  you  will  have  the  contrast  (I  will  not  call 
it  the  comparison)  between  the  celebrated  heathen  epics,  and  the 
epic  that  should  be  composed  from  the  Bible. 

"  Milton  and  Pollock  have  done  much  for  the  honor  of 
Christian  poetry,  and  had  their  plans  equalled  their  execution, 
they  would  have  thrown  the  heathen  poets  immeasureably  into 
the  background.  Indeed  they  have  done  so,  as  it  is;  but  neither 
Milton  nor  Pollock  were  sufficiently  comprehensive  in  their  plans. 

"Many  important  objects  would  be  accomplished  by  present- 
ing a  Christian  epic  which  should  properly  celebrate  the  work  of 
human  redemption,  and  the  fact  of  human  progress.  It  would 
present  the  Christian  theology  in  an  attractive  and  impressive 
view.  It  would  awaken  new  interest,  and  inspire  new  hopes  of 


47 

the  progressive  elevation  of  man.  It  would  accordingly  stimu- 
late to  holier  and  more  consistent  efforts  for  the  elevation  of  hu- 
manity. *  *  * 

"  The  connection  of  Christian  theology  with  Christian  ethics, 
should  be  apparent.  A  spirit  of  brotherly  love,  and  tender  re- 
gard for  humanity,  should  pervade  the  whole  work,  and  it  should 
be  so  planned  and  executed  as  to  inspire  and  foster  that  spirit. 

"  The  fact  of  human  progress  and  amelioration  should  be 
made  apparent.  The  Christian  millennium  should  occupy  a  prom- 
inent place,  and  be  shown  to  be  both  scriptural  and  rational — the 
consummation,  without  which  the  enterprise  should  be  a  failure. 
This  would  give  an  air  of  hope  and  triumph  to  the  poem. 

"  The  moral  and  the  poetical  effect  should,  at  every  step,  be 
combined,  and  become  identical.  Christianity  furnishes  the  best 
possible  field,  materials,  and  opportunity  for  this. 

"  The  truly  poetic  of  Christianity  is  spiritual;  and  its  spirit- 
uality is  poetic. 

"  The  heathen  epics  are  histories  of  bloody  wars,  and  the 
events  and  results  connected  with  them.  The  Christian  epic 
should  record  the  great  moral  and  intellectual  conflicts  and  tri- 
umphs of  the  world — all  that  pertains  to  the  moral  and  intellec- 
tual elevation  of  man." 

Some  seventy-five  pages  in  manuscript  are  all  that  we  find 
written  of  this  projected  poem.  From  the  fragment  we  make  a 
few  brief  extracts. 

The  second  book  opens  thus: 

"  Harp  of  the  rolling  ages!    Thou  whose  song 
Unceasing,  notes  the  measur'd  march  of  Time, 
Thyself,  thy  flowing  numbers,  to  the  years 
Yielding  their  cadence,  evermore  attun'd 
To  harmony  with  Heav'n's  eternal  plan; 
Thine  is  the  music  of  the  circling  spheres, 
And  thine  the  song,  still  varying,  and  yet  one, 
Of  long  revolving  cent'ries.     When  thy  notes 
Fall  scattered  on  the  untun'd  and  transcient  ears 
Of  heedless  mortals,  jarring  dissonance 
Disturbs  them;  but  thy  voice  is  music  sweet 
To  him  whose  faith  seraphic,  list'ning  long, 
Catches  and  holds  thy  glorious  symphonies, 
As  heard  in  Heav'n,  or  at  the  final  close, 
Where,  like  the  rays  of  light,  that  travel  down 
For  centuries,  to  visit  this  dark  earth, 
From  suns  thus  distant,  all  thy  tones  arriv'd, 
Arc  all,  at  length,  in  fit  proportion  heard, 
And  God's  harmonious  Providence  expressed." 


48 

In  the  first  book  is  described  a  conference  of  the  Powers  of 
Darkness,  in  which  Satan  and  his  minions  discuss  how  they  shall 
proceed  to  conquer  the  human  race  to  evil,  which  we  would 
gladly  quote  did  space  permit.  They  are  described  as  celebrat- 
ing, 

"  'Mid  horrid  orgies,  and  demonial  feast," 

the  recent  murder  of  Abel,  and  and  their  conquest  of  Cain  and 
his  posterity.  Moloch  advises  war  as  the  best  means  of  accom- 
plishing the  ruin  of  man;  Mammon  would  substitute  wealth; 
Belial  suggests  pleasure  as  preferable  to  either  of  the  others, 
both  which  would  develope  the  virtues  of  industry  and  thrift. 
Satan  decides  upon  a  union  of  the  three.  The  scene  closes  thus: 

"He  ceas'd,  mid  earthquake  thund'rings  of  acclaim 
From  all  that  dismal  conclave,  with  one  shout 
That  shook  the  firmament,  and  echo'd  back 
From  deep  perdition ;  then,  the  dense  dark  cloud 
That  did  enclose  them,  burst  with  sudden  shock, 
And  a  sulph'rous  show'r;  as  ^tna  ashes  sheds 
At  times,  o'er  Sicily,  sure  presage  found 
Of  quick  eruption,  and  the  baleful  flood 
Of  burning  lava  pour'd  impetuous  forth 
Upon  the  plains  and  villages  below ; 
So  from  that  high  volcano's  cloudy  womb 
Forth  issuing,  legions  upon  legions  roll'd 
Downward  towards  earth,  a  cataract  huge 
And  horrible ;  thence  spreading  far  and  wide 
On  plain  etherial,  while  their  dragon  wings, 
Like  hast'ning  hail-storms  urged  by  tempests,  roar'd, 
And  all  the  o'ercast  horizon  with  them  lower'd. 
Then  soon  was  witness'd  in  the  darkling  west, 
What  seem'd  a  warrior's  standard,  high  uprear'd, 
Beside  an  altar  smear'd  with  clotted  gore. 
There  grisly  Moloch,  as  with  beat  of  drum, 
Loud  sounding  timbrel,  and  with  trumpet  blast, 
Summon'd  his  armies,  gath'ring  there,  apace, 
From  all  that  multitude  who  sought  renown, 
By  deeds  of  slaughter,  and  the  trade  of  blood 
Fit  spirits  to  inflame  that  thirst  on  earth. 
Far  distant,  in  the  bright  and  gorgeous  east, 
O'er  spicy  groves  that  lent  their  rich  perfumes, 
Belial,  his  brow  with  rosy  garlands  deck'd, 
On  silken  clouds  with  graceful  ease  reclined, 
And  with  sweet  sounds  of  dulcimer  and  lute, 
And  show  of  sorc'ress  sylphs  that  round  him  whirl'd 
In  mazy  dance,  lascivious,  dissolute, 


49 

His  vot'ries  gather'd ;  pleasure  their  employ, 

And  all'the  arts  seductive  Pleasure  plies, 

Her  cheated  victims  to  decoy  and  slay ; 

Thus  train'd  to  play  their  part  in  scenes  of  earth. 

In  midway  zenith,  on  his  golden  throne, 

With  splendor  shining,  like  meridian  sun, 

Sat  Mammon,  and  with  proffer'd  prizes  bought 

The  crowds  that  drew  around  him,  bent  on  gain. 

Ready,  in  turn,  with  gold,  to  purchase  men, 

Seduc'd  to  sell  themselves,  and  thence  prepar'd 

To  purchase  one  another,  as  brute  beasts, 

Traffic  abhor'd,  in  blood  and  human  souls ; 

Th'  assembly  thus  assorted,  marshall'd  train'd, 

And  sub-divided,  under  diverse  chiefs 

Subordinate,  in  order  fitly  rang'd, 

Yet  separate,  th'  infernal  armies  stood; 

Each  individual  knew  his  rank  and  post, 

The  work  assigned  him  on  the  earth  below. 

Silence  prevailed ;  and  curious,  secret  arts, 

Signals,  and  pass-words,  grips,  and  counter-signs, 

Wink  of  the  eye,  position  of  the  foot, 

And  lesson  of  the  fingers,  were  enjoined, 

Devise  of  craft,  to  cover  dev'lish  deeds, 

First  taught  by  Belial.     Then,  at  signal  giv'n, 

In  silence,  one  by  one,  in  order  strict, 

Drop'd  singly  down,  in  quiet,  gentle  fall, 

Like  snow-flakes,  fading  slowly  as  they  fell, 

To  shadowy  dimness  first,  like  phantoms  frail, 

Vaguely  discern'd,  impalpable  as  mist, 

Then  vanishing,  invisible  as  air, 

And  standing  unperceiv'd  in  haunts  of  men, 

All  unsuspiciously  inhal'd  as  breath, 

Or,  through  the  ear,  unheard,  suggesting  dreams, 

In  sleep,  or  waking;  springs  of  fancy  touch'd, 

Nerve  sympathetic,  or  evolving  brain, 

Or  mystic  fluid  magnetic,  seat  of  life 

Perhaps,  or  undiscoverable  link 

'Twixt  mind  and  matter,  these  in  turn  assail'd 

As  best  might  suit  their  purpose,  dark  and  foul. 

Satan,  meantime,  among  them,  gliding  swift, 

And  passing  to  and  fro  through  all  the  earth, 

Like  roaring  lion,  seeking  to  devour." 

Various  types  of  human  character,  before  the  flood,  are  de- 
scribed.    Among  them  this: 

"  In  those  days,  he  who  walked  by  Virtue's  side 
Thus  walked  because  he  loved  her  loveliness, 


50 

And  drank  the  sweetness  of  her  angel  smile 

EmptarMj  and  desir'd  no  other  lot, 

No  other  recompense  ;  conceiving  \vell 

That  love  of  Holiness  is  love  of  God, 

And  love  of  God  is  hlessedness  and  Heaven. 

He  walked  not  thus  with  Holiness  and  God 

At  bidding  of  the  statutes  man  had  frum'd, 

Or  lest  the  State  should  low'r,  or  Church  should  chide 

Or  hurl  anathemas,  or  solemn  vote 

Of  Sanhedrims  exclude  him  from  their  pale; 

Or  lest  Society  from  her  warm  lap 

Should  cast  him  out,  an  heretic  abhor'd ; 

Nor  yet  because  Philosophy,  exact, 

With  line  and  plummet  sounding  at  the  base 

Of  human-nature,  guaging  well  its  depths, 

Its  just  dimensions,  and  its  kindred  ties, 

Had  drawn  up  data  for  a  diagram 

On  which  to  demonstrate  the  certain  hold 

That  Virtue  has  on  Pleasure,  Vice  on  Pain — 

Fit  exercise  for  reason,  in  its  place, 

Revealing  wisdom  in  the  Great  First  Cause, 

Yet  reaching  not  the  grounds  of  holy  love, 

Obedience,  faith,  fruition,  firm  repose, 

Resting  in  truth  and  righteousness  divine, 

The  holy  beauty  of  the  Lord  our  God. — 

Nor  yet  because,  by  process  less  exact, 

Yielding  assurance  with  more  caution  giv'n, 

Sagacity,  with  wise  and  studious  mien, 

O'er  statesman-like  statistics  ling'ring  long, 

And  interest  tables,  carefully  compil'd 

For  counting-house  convenience,  doctrines  deep 

Of  varying  chances,  permutations  vast, 

With  logarithmetie  industry  pursu'd 

Through  all  their  changes,  intricate  and  coy, 

Mocking  detection,  save  by  practic'd  skill, 

With  decimated  fractions,  by  whose  help 

Approximation  toward  the  truth  is  reached, 

Had  calculated  probable  results 

Of  human  actions,  and  had  found  the  chance 

As  av'raged  from  experience  of  the  past, 

Upon  the  whole,  to  lie  on  Virtue's  side, 

And  Honesty,  compared  with  Knavery, 

The  better  policy,  for  lengthen'd  thrift, 

Of  better  credit  on  th'  Exchange,  at  Bank, 

And  wheresoever  merchants  shrewd  are  found ; 

Virtue  expedient,  therefore  gainful,  wise, 

And  hence  as  valid  law  to  be  received, 

Of  binding  obligation  weight,  and  force 

Upon  the  conscience ;  or,  at  least,  the — purse ! 


51 

Such  potent  aids  of  virtue,  now  so  rife, 

And  taught  laboriously  in  public  schools, 

As  science,  moral,  economic,  deep, 

Quoted  in  Senates,  and  in  pulpits  preach'd, 

(And  better  preached,  perhaps,  than  ethics  worse,) 

Useful,  'tis  thought,  in  modern  times,  to  some 

Whose  eye-sight  moral  beauty  never  bless'd, 

Thus  saved,  through  selfish  hope  or  servile  fear, 

From  infamy,  or  gibbets,  here  on  earth ; 

Whom  holy  love  of  duty,  and  of  God, 

Saves  never,  upon  earth,  nor  yet  in  heav'n. 

Such  science  flourished  not,  to  aid  the  saints 

In  paths  of  holiness,  before  the  flood; 

Or,  if  it  did,  no  'trophy  left  behind 

That  has  survived  the  deluge,  or  was  deem'd 

Demanding  record  on  the  page  inspired, 

As  having  lit  the  fires  of  sacrifice 

On  Abel's  altar,  or  afforded  light 

To  Enoch,  while  with  God  on  earth  he  walked." 

We  will  conclude  these  quotations  with  one  from  the  last 
words  of  Adam: 

"  Take  courage,  then,  my  children,  and  be  strong ; 
Resist  the  Serpent,  whom  the  Lord  shall  bruise 
Under  your  feet;  and  put  his  hosts  to  flight. 
Yet  not  without  sore  conflict,  patient  faith, 
And  firm  endurance.     Cherish  well  the  tie 
That  binds  you  to  each  other,  to  the  race 
Of  man  upon  the  earth,  wherever  found, 
Howe'er  debas'd,  despoil'd,  forlorn  and  crush'd, 
Howe'er  polluted,  dark,  beguil'd,  ensnar'd 
And  wayward ;  yet  beware  the  witching  lure 
Of  bad  example,  and  the  taint  of  sin, 
And  warn  the  wicked  of  their  evil  ways, 
That  God  may  give  them  penitence  and  faith, 
And  knowledge  of  His  counsels,  as  ye  know 
He  has  already,  unto  some  of  you 
Who  once  were  lost,  but  now  are  saved  and  cleans'd. 
Thou  well  rememb'rest,  Enos,  when,  in  crowds 
Thy  listening  neighbors  gather'd  round  thy  bow'r 
To  hear  the  voice  of  prayer,  and  kind  reproof, 
And  list'ning  wept,  and  weeping  learn'd  to  pray, 
And  praying  turned  their  feet  from  paths  of  sin, 
To  serve  the  Lord  their  Maker.     Enoch,  thou, 
Though  young  in  years,  wast  then  by  Heav'n  inspir'd 
To  raise  thy  voice  a  witness  to  the  Truth, 
And  many  heard  thee,  and  thy  words  received  ; 
Thus  do:  fulfill  thy  work,  and  reap  thy  sheaves; 


Souls  rescued  shall  be  giv'n  thee,  for  thy  hire. 

Such  seasons,  still  returning,  as  for  prayer 

The  faithful  come  together,  God  shall  send 

In  future  ages,  and  a  seed  preserve, 

'Till  He,  the  mighty  Prophet,  be  reveal'd, 

The  Prince,  th'  atoning  Priest,  the  Sacrifice, 

Whom,  lo!  through  vistas  long,  of  distant  years, 

With  dazz'ling  brightness  bursts  upon  my  sight! 

But  who?    Or  man?    Or  God?    With  glorious  march, 

With  sorrows  drench'd,  with  blood  his  raiment  stain'd; 

Methought  I  saw  him  pierc'd,  and  heard  him  groan, 

While  nature  fainted,  and  the  sun  was  lost! 

But  lo!  he  rises  heav'nward,  and  in  chains 

Captivity  leads  captive!    Death  and  Hell 

All  vanquish'd,  and  Destruction  all  destroy 'd! 

O'erpow'ring  vision!   Who  this  conqu'ring  Prince? 

This  King  of  Glory — who?     My  eyes  grow  dim, 

And  roll  in  darkness.     Seth!     Where  is  thy  hand? 

Enos !  thy  shoulder !    Hark !    Upon  mine  ear 

There  comes  the  sound  of  music,  like  the  notes 

I  heard  in  Paradise;  or  Eve's  sweet  voice. 

Again!     It  is  the  minstrelsy  of  heav'n, 

Accents  of  Raphael,  mingling  with  the  song; 

To  me  he  speaks,  and  bids  me  hence  away, 

To  mansions  high  above  the  stars  prepar'd. 

I  come !    I  come !    My  children,  all,  farewell !" 

It  can  be  truly  said  of  William  Goodell  that  he  "  lived  as 
seeing  Him  who  is  invisible."  His  character  was  all  that  might 
be  inferred  from  his  writings,  and  more.  Of  rare  and  wonderful 
elevation  and  purity  of  thought  and  motive,  high  purpose,  un- 
daunted courage,  unwavering  faith  in  the  Infinite  Goodness,  he 
was  an  inspiration  to  all  who  knew  him  and  were  capable  of 
understanding  and  appreciating  his  character.  No  public  man 
was  ever  less  actuated  by  ambition,  or  any  form  of  self-seeking, 
than  he.  Modest,  almost  to  diffidence,  yet  fearless  in  battling  for 
the  Right;  strong,  yet  tender;  his  character  bore  the  scrutiny  of 
familiar  and  long  continued  intimacy,  and  those  who  knew  him 
best  loved  and  admired  him  most.  As  a  reformer,  he  was  radical, 
and  in  advance  of  the  thought  of  the  masses;  he  was  pre-emi- 
nently a  leader  of  thought.  He  taught  the  necessity  of  total 
abstinence  at  a  time  when  moderate  drinking  was  considered  good 
temperance  doctrine;  and  was  among  the  first  to  advocate  prohib- 
itory legislation.  He  was  among  the  earliest,  if  not  the  very 
earliest,  to  advance  the  theory  of  the  right  and  duty  of  the  Fed- 
eral Government  to  abolish  slavery  in  the  States,  and  to  claim 


53 

that  slavery  was  both  illegal  and  unconstitutional,  that  its  speedy 
abolition  was  intended  by  the  framers  of  the  Constitution,  and  was 
authorized  by  the  words,  "  Congress  shall  guarantee  to  every 
State  in  the  Union  a  republican  form  of  Government."  These 
theories  he  argued  in  the  works  which  we  have  already  named, 
and  which  were  read  and  privately  concurred  in  by  such  men 
as  Charles  Sumner,  S.  P.  Chase,  and  Abraham  Lincoln.  In  this 
view  he  differed  from  Wm.  Lloyd  Garrison  and  Wendell  Phillips, 
his  early  co-laborers,  who,  regarding  the  Federal  Constitution  as 
pro-slavery,  denounced  it  as  a  "covenant  with  death  and  an  agree- 
ment with  hell,"  and  advocated  a  dissolution  of  the  Union  as  the 
only  consistent  course  for  conscientious  northerners  opposed  to 
slavery.  His  co-adjutors  in  the  work  of  advocating  the  abolition 
of  slavery  by  the  Federal  Government,  under  the  Constitution, 
were  Gerrit  Smith,  Alvan  Stewart,  Beriah  Green,  Arthur  and 
Lewis  Tappan,  and  their  associates.  Yet  while  differing  with 
abolitionists  of  the  Garrisonian  school  in  methods,  his  personal 
friendship  with  them  continued  through  life. 

He  was  a  courageous  leader,  a  tender  friend,  a  devoted  Chris- 
tian. Those  who  knew  him  were  made  better  and  happier,  the 
world  was  made  richer,  for  his  life. 


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